It becomes, then, the responsibility of the kids to take matters into their own hands.
Derry is a town where disappearances happen on a regular basis, with all the adults turning a blind eye.
The creature they face seems to feed on fear and, as such, IT makes a strong argument that children shouldn’t be shielded from the scary things that are out there.
While the MPAA rating of the film has a debatable value, anyone considering preventing eager young eyes from seeing IT would do well to also consider a key element of the plot.