Are Comedy, action, and a little magic, all you need to make a good kids movie? The House with a Clock in its Walls had all of these and yet that doesn’t mean it is a good movie. This movie delivers on some aspects, but not all that it needs to be considered a good movie.

Sitting in the theater, I was ready to enjoy a perfect magical kid’s movie with some good Jack Black comedy. The one hour and 45 minutes I was there was filled with a kid getting bullied, half the magic it needed, and some good comedy– not what I expected this movie was going to be like. Tannah Nicholson said, “It looks all right, but it looks like it targeted to a younger audience, which is why I wouldn’t want to see it.”

First, the bullying.  As usual, you see the kid getting bullied all the time when he is at school. Why can’t they just use a normal kid or someone who is quiet but isn’t bullied? It seems like every movie about a kid these days has him or her getting bullied.

Besides the bullying issue, the movie shows a good amount of magic. However, it shows what the kid has learned and not how he learned it. I think the movie could have benefited from showing more magic, and how the kid developed this talent.

On a positive note, the comedy was actually pretty good.  The contrast between the main character Lewis (Owen Vaccaro) and his uncle Jonathan (Jack Black) are pretty good. Same to say with Uncle Jonathan’s and Florence Zimmerman’s (Cate Blanchett) contrast through the movie who made jokes and kept the audience laughing.

Additionally, the dialogue in the movie was pretty good to say the most. The movie falls short on the regular dialogue, which would have made the movie that much better. The worst part had to be the ending. The movie ended so quickly, as if the producers were giving the audience a big slap in the face. Therefore, it consists of minimal magic (when it needs to have the most in the movie), no logic, and a really quick ending.

All in all, The House with a Clock in its Walls is an okay, family-friendly movie if you don’t mind letting the “young ones” hear a little bit of swearing.  If you are looking for a good family movie that has some good comedy and has some magic, then this is for you. However, if you are looking for a movie with good dialogue and a lot of good magic, don’t waste your time.