The House With A Clock In Its Walls

By Linda Winsh-Bolard

Visually beautiful movie that never reaches the whimsical demeanor of Harry Potter or the human dimension of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

The House with Clock in Its Walls is made for children and remains within this limit.

In 1955, ten years old Lewis Barnavelt (Owen Vaccaro) loses his parents in car crash and moves to live with his uncle in a small town in Michigan. Predictably, both, uncle and house, are strange.
Uncle Jonathan Barnavelt (Joe Black) drives an old car (actually very lovely old car), his house is full of all kinds of clocks, ornaments, many very odd, books, sports painted glass instead of windows, is surrounded by large garden full of overgrown plants, shallow pool and, of course, tall gate. Jonathan is close friends with a woman called Florence Zimmerman (Cate Blanchett), who adds a touch of normalcy by baking wonderful chocolate chip cookies.

Lewis’ first night in the house is disrupted by strange noises and visions of his uncle breaking the walls with an ax. Magic is everywhere.
Lewis, a precocious oddity, complete with huge goggles and love for words, has troubles to fit into his new school. In sad display of rejection, even a boy affected by polio is picked over Lewis by the sport teams.

No wonder that Lewis is eager to hang onto the one friend, who reaches to him, or seems to. Tarby Corrigan( Sunny Suljic) is running for a fourth grade president post, natural politician, he is making friends everywhere. Until the election. After Tarby is reelected, he spurns the weird Lewis. Lewis’s attempts to get his “friend” back, open a whole world of trouble.

Little is new, or unexpected. The twist on doom is a reminder of Benjamin Button, along with Jonathan’s temporary change. Beautifully executed animation seems to draw precariously on Harry Potter, with some additional fun in it. “Bad Kitty! Use the litter box!”, resonates probably more with parents than kids, but it is funny in the visual context, armchair makes a sweet pet, known to us from Beauty and the Beast , and I cannot but wonder, how did the boys pick up their magic target out of the whole cemetery.

Realistically sad is the portrait of a small boy, who just wants him Mom back. The adults might be suspicious of Mom’s advice, but a child just wants her back. Jonathan’s fear that he cannot protect his nephew, and the loss of self, caused by the grief of losing her family, that leaves Florence powerless. ring reasonably true.

The very first scene, in 1950s bus, is a delight, the candy store is touching, and combining magic with Ovaltine is funny. It works to remind us that we are all human; even those with special talent, and it is made clear that special talents could be many. Various life observations are poignant and timeless. A lovely composed shot shows us the loners facing the crowds. Creating magic, the hope and dream of so many at any age, is finding beauty in the world around . That all comes across. Warnings, that once you manipulate whatever was there naturally, you might create a disaster, is less obvious; more is the pity. Child’s world, with its longing, expectations, loneliness and bravado of the very young, is portrayed very well. Yet, the film remains torn between childish and for children.

Joe Black and Colleen Camps give better performance than Cate Blanchett, who is hampered by nearly total loss of animation. The boys are typecast; they do well, because they are typecast, yet at the same time, the typecasting is annoying.

Kudos to staging and camera work. Had such house existed, it is obviously a set; we’d all love to live in it. Could such beautiful magic be created, we’d all want to do it. Children will love every frame of it. It has scary images but never as scary as to turn children off. And no “kissy faces” anywhere! What a relief for all adults. Imagine world where friendship can last without sex! Must be the magic.

Director: Eli Roth
Writers: Eric Kripke (screenplay by), John Bellairs (based on the novel by)
Stars: Jack Black, Cate Blanchett, Owen Vaccaro, Kyle Maclachlan, Renee Elise Goldsberry, Colleen Camps.
Cinematography by Rogier Stoffers
Set Decoration by Ellen Brilland Tommy Wilson