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“It” is a well-made movie. The child actors are brilliant and believable, the story pacing is tense and the cinematography is stunning.

However, “It” isn’t scary, and that’s arguably the movie’s selling point.

Honestly, the movie was the scariest when Bill Skarsgard’s Pennywise wasn’t on screen.I knew he was lurking in the shadows and felt antsy waiting for the movie to jump scare me.

Once Pennywise the Dancing Clown emerged from the darkness, I lost that genuine terror and instead thought about how ridiculous and not-scary his shaking back and forth looked.

2017’s Pennywise wasn’t lacking in scary elements in design.if the movie had taken more time with the camera zooming in on the clown’s face with Pennywise’s creepy sayings, it would’ve been scary.

However, the movie instead inserted an incredibly laughable scene where Pennywise’s face stayed anchored in one place while fire and the rest of his body danced around that center. “It” was far too dependent on its score to provide scary moments based on what viewers saw; I jumped several times because of how loud the music was.

Although this version of Pennywise struggled with living up to the sheer terror readers felt reading Stephen King’s “It,” the movie excelled in storytelling.

It’s hard to have a band of kids and make the viewers care about every single one of them. The movie did that, making each child’s story sympathetic with friendships to root for.

Finn Wolfhard as Richie and Jaeden Lieberher as Bill give standout performances.  Lieberher’s performance oozes with subtly portrayed pain after losing his younger brother, and Wolfhard perfectly delivers hilarious, dirty lines that elicited consistent, hearty laughs in the theater showing room.

“It” felt like more of a successful character study than a terrifying movie. That may not have been the intent, but the experience was enjoyable nonetheless. It’s one of the better movies of 2017.