“The House With A Clock In Its Walls” (*** out of four) was a delightful adaptation of John Bellairs’ 1973 classic novel about a young boy (Owen Vaccaro) who goes to live in a creaky old house with his uncle (Jack Black) and accidentally summons the spirit of the ghost of the original owner (Kyle Maclachlan under mounds of makeup) who wants to end the world with a clock he made and hid in the house before his death. A spirited change-of-pace for director Eli Roth in his first family children’s movie but this is actually a lot more entertaining than most of his gore bores. Black is much more charismatic than usual and him and Cate Blanchett (as a neighbor and good witch) have great chemistry together.