Movie Review: The House with the Clock in the Walls

It’s been almost half a year since I saw a movie in the movie theatre…I was just slacking. I wanted to see a lot of the horror movies that came out, but I didn’t want to take the time to actually go to the theatre. But enough about me, you’re not here for updates on me.

A friend wanted to see this movie. I really don’t care for Jack Black, but a movie with Cate Blanchett is an event. I’ve missed far too many of her movies. She is really a treat. Years ago, I had the pleasure of seeing her live, at the Kennedy Center, performing in Street Car Named Desire. Anyway, this movie is about a kid, who loses his parents and is taking the bus to some city in Michigan to live with his uncle, who is estranged from his mother, but is the only family he has left. 

The kid gets to the house, and it appears to be haunted, but only to the viewer, not to the kid, not at first. He soon discovers weird things are happening, but can’t explain it. The uncle finally admits that the house is haunted, sort of. It turns out Jack Black’s character is a warlock, a guy witch. The back story kind of takes us through this winding path of how Black’s character moved into the house after the previous owner died in a mysterious circumstances and left a doomsday clock in the walls. The movie builds up and up and the kid accidentally raises the dead warlock who lived in the house before and has to find a way to defeat him.

For the most part, this felt like a kids’ movie. There was some potty humor, and of course, Cate Blanchett is always wonderful.  The overall story was complete by the end, but it didn’t entice me to read the books. And quite frankly, it didn’t keep my interest, but I did have a bucket of popcorn. For a kids’ movie, it was good. If you’ve got an inquisitive kid, then yes, go see it. But if you’re an adult, I’m not sure this is for you.

While the story is set in the 1950s in Michigan, one can’t expect any diversity. There were maybe two people of color and three women. Cate Blanchett didn’t have her magic totally under control and the other woman was evil, leaving the last one as a girl in the kid’s school. It felt a tad messy. I have to admit, this failed my Hina test.