The movie It: Chapter 2 had several problems.
Problem A: first off, they all needed name tags
We were expected to remember all seven children’s names from It Chapter 1 two years ago, and then somehow extrapolate what they looked like grown up. At least the kid with glasses was good enough to wear the same style of glasses as an adult. I mistakenly assumed that the first adult strawberry blonde I saw was the redheaded girl grown up. On top of that, the overweight child was no longer overweight.
There was one indulgent cameo from a person who did not need a name tag. The humor there was like all the rest of the humor, it kept me from being afraid for even a moment in what was supposed to be the scariest movie of the year.
Problem B: poor budgeting of time
There was a couple I invested in, thinking they were major characters, but they were not. Instead of devoting ten minutes of screen time to those sympathetic but disposable characters, the film should have spent those ten minutes reminding me who the pivotal evil human was. I was expected to remember him from two years ago when I saw It: Chapter 1.
Additionally, the entire middle of the movie is a massive waste of time. They made an effort to scare me mid-movie by following each of the six adults through individual ten-minute long creepy vignettes. Sixty minutes of movie in which the plot was not advanced. They could have edited this movie from three hours down to two.
Problem C: poor production
The production values were good, with some exceptions, and the exceptions were unintentionally comical. There are a number of scenes in which the adults are chased about by … I don’t know how to describe it … spindly-limbed papier-mâché puppets. And frankly, about half these puppets had saggy breasts attached to them. As a saggy-breasted woman I found this offensive, especially since I saw no saggy papier-mâché testicles on the male puppets.
In summary, I did not enjoy It.