You might remember that several years ago I blogged about our trip to Marshall, Michigan, to see the hometown of my favorite author, John Bellairs, and all the houses that inspired his books.
You might also recall a few months ago I blogged about the trailer to an upcoming movie based on his most famous book, The House with a Clock in its Walls.
The movie was released yesterday, and Wendy and I went to see it. I am happy to report that it is a decent movie. Certainly not great, but decent. It's a little boring at times, but it has some touching moments, and a few scenes that are surprisingly scary for a kids movie. (The movie was produced by Steven Spielberg's company, and he personally encouraged the director to make it scary!) It detours from the book's plot quite a bit, but I didn't mind the changes, and I thought a few of them worked really well.
The best part of the movie is probably the casting of Cate Blanchett as Mrs. Zimmermann. She is ultra-fantastic in the role and brings a ton of class to the movie. Also, I was surprised how much I enjoyed the closing credits, which featured great organ music along with Edward Gorey-inspired animations.
The movie currently has a rating of 6.2 on IMDB, and a 67% score on Rotten Tomatoes. Decent, but not great. I hope it does well enough that more Bellairs books can be made into movies. Variety reports the movie was projected to earn $18 - $20 million during its opening weekend, but that it's now on pace to earn $24 million! That's a promising sign!
If you're at all interested, I recommend going to see it. But also, be sure to read the book!