Haunted fun for everyone
THE HOUSE WITH A CLOCK IN ITS WALLS
Starring: Jack Black, Cate Blanchett, Owen Vaccaro, Kyle MacLachlan A magic residence in need of a good tocking too
A FAMILY-friendly(ish) affair released just in time for the coming school holidays, The House With A Clock In Its Walls is an endearingly odd mash-up of some tried-andtrue elements.
What mostly comes to mind is a mildly Americanised Harry Potter adventure, and any old Goosebumps tale you can’t quite recall.
The house mentioned in the title is pretty much a School of Witchcraft and Warlockery, run as a one-man operation by a kooky spell-caster named Jonathan Barnavelt (Jack Black).
The only student on the books is his 10-year-old or- phan nephew Lewis (Owen Vaccaro), and the only other teacher on staff is next-door neighbour and no-nonsense enchantress Florence Zimmerman (Cate Blanchett).
As for the clock in the walls, that’s been planted there as a paranormal prank by Isaac Izard (Kyle MacLachlan), the former owner of the happily haunted home.
With their good-natured bickering and hyper-eccentric behavioural tics, Black and Blanchett prove to be a double act that repeatedly saves The House With A Clock In Its Walls from indulging in too much unnecessary scary or soppy stuff — though the story arguably focuses a little too closely on the trials and tribulations of Lewis at school.
Sure, Black can do a role like Jonathan Barnavelt with his eyes closed. Nevertheless, he is exactly the right man for the job. As for Blanchett, well, I never thought I’d ever see her do a running handstand for no particular reason in a movie, let alone headbutt a demonically possessed Halloween pumpkin.
With the production duties being handled by Steven Spielberg’s Amblin company, the special-effects work here is top notch.
However, it should be mentioned that some fantasy sequences may be a touch too frightening for some younger viewers.