What an A-List star like Cate Blanchett is doing in a mediocre kid’s movie like The House With a Clock In Its Walls is puzzling. This movie is based on John Bellairs’s The House With a Clock In Its Walls (1973) where a young orphan named Lewis (Owen Vaccaro) moves in with his eccentric uncle. Jack Black plays warlock Jonathan Barnavelt who lives in a creepy old mansion that seems alive. Cate Blanchett plays a witch who lives next door. Black and Blanchett search the old mansion for a mysterious clock hidden in the walls by evil warlock Isaac Izard (Kyle MacLachlan). This is not as suspenseful or mysterious as the Harry Potter movies (which is the audience a film like The House With a Clock In Its Walls is trying to tap into). Despite the excellent cast, this movie is dull, dull, dull. GRADE: C
It looks and sounds like something that should have been on a Disney show in the ’80s. I like Black and Blanchett, but this sounds weak.
Jeff, “weak” is the right word for THE HOUSE WITH A CLOCK IN ITS WALLS. One of the reviewers I read before we saw the film wrote, “Something is missing.” I agree.
Uh, oh.
Patti, THE HOUSE WITH A CLOCK IN ITS WALLS features plenty of production values and a stellar cast. It’s just boring.
Your review is a lot like the one in our paper. I want to see this, but will wait for it on Netflix.
I”m not a fan of Jack black, but have liked him in some movies. I was surprised I liked goosebumps, and this seems to be similiar
Maggie, I think the audiences for the GOOSEBUMPS movies and HARRY POTTER movies would be the target for a film like THE HOUSE WITH A CLOCK IN ITS WALLS. But this is a far more tedious movie.
Too bad. It has been getting poor reviews. Not much to see this week. Going to see Blaze tomorrow. Got dragged to see Life Itself yesterday. Probably the worst movie I have seen in the last ten years. Just Awful. I had wanted to see Fahrenheit 9/11 but everyone I went with are all Trumped out.
Steve, I’ve seen FAHRENHEIT 11/9 and found it powerful…but a tad too long. My review will be up on this blog next week.