After his parents are killed in an accident, a 10-year-old
boy (Owen Vaccaro) goes to live with his eccentric uncle (Jack Black), who
turns out to be a warlock. Having mastered some of the rudiments of his new
guardian's craft, the lad assists him and his best friend (Cate Blanchett), a
nice witch, in trying to locate and stop the timepiece of the title, a doomsday
device with the capacity to turn the calendar back before the advent of
humanity. For all its spells and incantations, director Eli Roth's adaptation
of the first in a series of books by John Bellairs lacks magic, though some of
the humor works. Too scary for tots, the film is acceptable for most others,
despite the quasi-profanities that occasionally and, given the target audience,
needlessly crop up in Eric Kripke's screenplay.
Watch out for: Occult
themes, considerable peril, some scatological humor, a few mild oaths.
Rated: A-II, adults and
adolescents; MPAA: PG
© Arlington Catholic Herald 2018