I loved the first It. This one is longer, less frightening, and more poorly paced — and the acting ensemble does not stick the same way. The third act is long, the second act is muddy, and the first act is tedious. And there’s no mid-plot twist to spice things up.
Everybody involved definitely tried, but this is not a film that sticks the landing.
Edit: I’ve given this a bit more thought. The first movie was the best of Stephen King: concise, well-edited horror. This is the worst: long, heavy on exposition, meandering, and not terribly frightening. In desperate need of a good edit. Weak ending.
Another comparison for those who don’t read a lot of King: if the first one was horror’s Lord of the Rings moment — epic fantasy and horror merging at the perfect moment in pop culture — this is akin to The Hobbit. It’s an overly long CGI fest that misses what makes its predecessor so great.
Sorry. /rant