kevinyang’s review published on Letterboxd:
Repetitive, unimaginative, and so poorly paced and structured that I question the decision to task Andy Muschietti with building tension. It jumps back and forth between tonally different scenes with absolutely zero regard for fluidity and conceals this by telling you it's all about injecting the levity of a coming of age story. It's frankly kind of insulting that this is what we get out of an attempt to deal with childhood trauma and abuse within this genre. In fact, the most egregious section of the film is when all the kids have their own nightmare encounters with Pennywise. Why? Because it combines cheap horror filmmaking with lazy, one-note writing, the kind that espouses connectivity and some grand thematic tapestry but in reality is just doing the same thing over and over again. Sophia Lillis is too good for this, especially for that third act. Extra 1/2 star for her.
Watch Stranger Things instead to at least get something mediocre instead of bad.