The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Black’s magic
Actor’s trick is to lift ‘The House With the Clock in Its Walls’ above average hocus-pocus
“The House With a Clock in Its Walls” has such a delightfully weird streak running through it that it’s easy to forgive that this story powered by so much magic ultimately is only so magical.
In adapting author John Bellairs’ 1973 juvenile mystery novel of the same name — which would prove to be the first of 12 books featuring young protagonist Lewis Barnavelt — director Eli Roth appears to be a kid in a candy store. Usually behind the camera for adult fare that has included 2002’s highly enjoyable “Cabin Fever,” as well as the “Hostel” horror films in the mid-2000s and this year’s “Death Wish” remake, Roth seems to have enjoyed getting his hands on a tale aimed at families.
Perhaps not surprisingly, however, given Roth’s involvement, “The House With a Clock in Its Walls” plays like a child’s horror film, with young hero Lewis (Owen Vaccaro) finding himself in some rather perilous circumstance. It’s easy to imagine little ones being very frightened at times.
Roth balances those moments with myriad fun ones, though, and he gets rollicking performances from adult stars Jack Black and Cate Blanchett, making the film deserving of recommendation for many if not all families.
Hey, as we know from the “Harry Potter” stories and so many others throughout the years, magic has its dark side.
And “The House With a Clock in Its Walls” begins with a bit of doom-and-gloom, Lewis having lost his parents in a car accident and arriving in New Zebedee, Michigan, in 1955 to live with his mysterious uncle Jonathan (Black).
“Are you wearing a robe,” a perplexed Lewis ask Jonathan when the adult arrives to pick him up from the train. “It’s a kimono!” Jonathan answers. “Oh.”
Things only get stranger for Lewis from there, the boy arriving back at his uncle’s large, old house to find it filled with clocks and other sound-making oddities.
“Sorry, there’s a deranged cuckoo in there,” says Jonathan, gesturing to an area from which Blanchett’s almost-as-odd Mrs. Zimmerman soon emerges.
She is Jonathan’s neighbor, Lewis learns, and is engaged in a platonic but close relationship with Jonathan, the two serving as verbal sparring partners.
Jonathan tells him there are no rules — if Lewis wants cookies for dinner, he should have them — but does make a half-hearted effort to keep things from his new ward. The boy rather quickly sees too much, though, forcing Jonathan to reveal he is a warlock, Mrs. Zimmerman is a witch and the house is full of magical objects. (Really, how long was Jonathan going to be able to conceal that an old plush chair in the home behaves like a dog?)
There are more secrets for Lewis to discover, they of the potentially deadly variety, including the movie’s namesake puzzling timepiece. There also is the threat that Jonathan’s partner-turned-nemesis, Isaac Izzard (Kyle MacLachlan of “Twin Peaks: The Return”), somehow will be resurrected.
Lewis’ life is further complicated when a new school friend, Tarby (Sunny Suljic), turns on him, bullying the nerdy boy once Tarby gets a cast off his arm and can return to playing with his more athletically gifted friends. It is a misguided desire to win back Tarby’s attention that will lead Lewis to make a very poor decision.
Vaccaro (“Daddy’s Home,” “Mother’s Day”) is fairly enjoyable as the likeable but weird, goggles-wearing Lewis, but this largely is Black’s show. The actor is at his best when he can be a larger-than-life presence around younger people — see 2003’s “School of Rock” for evidence — and he is in fine form here.
The Oscar-winning Blanchett (“Ocean’s 8,” “Carol”), of course, is more than able to handle her role. Blanchett appears to enjoy riffing with Black, as Mrs. Zimmerman clearly cares for and respects Jonathan while also being driven nuts by him. (When Jonathan begins to play some late-night saxophone, one of his potentially irritating habits, she says to Lewis, “Be a dear — fetch a knife and stab me in the ears.”)
Considering “The House With a Clock in Its Walls” was co-produced by the Steven Spielberg-founded Amblin Entertainment, it is anything but surprising that its production values are high and that a great deal of care seems to have gone into making its magic come alive on screen, often with comedic results.
And, thus, it’s a bummer the experience of watching the film isn’t just a bit more magical. Perhaps it’s Roth’s inexperience with familyfriendly entertainment that leaves just a little to be desired from the movie — he does know enough to give kids the poop jokes they crave, however — or maybe it’s that Bellairs’ tale can’t quite match those of “Potter” scribe J.K. Rowling.
A few minor warts aside, “The House With a Clock in Its Walls” largely is a well-made and entertaining work of (mostly) familyfriendly fiction.