The House With A Clock In Its Walls Review: 5 Ups & 3 Downs

1. The Story Loses Its Way A Little

There's a little too much going on in The House With A Clock In Its Walls. A little too much story. It feels like an adaptation where the film-makers felt too connected to the material and couldn't decide what might be superfluous and what could be cut to help streamline the story.

We get some undercooked story elements and a subplot about a school friend and a bully that could and should have been left out in favour of a much more sensible story motivation. Sure, the reason that Lewis does the thing that drives the film's escalation (that's all the spoiler you'll get) is in the books, but there's a FAR easier way of getting there that fits in with his tragic backstory (which would have made that more relevant too).

The script probably needed a little more focus and some of its elements stripped away, because there is a great story in there (albeit one that is a little odd) that could have shone with more restraint.

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