Child's Play Review
R: Bloody horror violence, and language throughout
Studios: Orion Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, BRON Creative, KatzSmith Productions
Runtime: 1 Hr and 30 Minutes
Director: Lars Klevberg | Screenwriter: Tyler Burton Smith
Cast: Aubrey Plaza, Gabriel Bateman, Brian Tyree Henry, Mark Hamill
A mother, Karen (Aubrey Plaza), gives her son Andy (Gabriel Bateman) a toy doll for his birthday, unaware of its more sinister nature.
Back in 1988, Don Mancini wrote Child’s Play, which became a staple of ‘80s horror and launched one of the most beloved and ever growing horror franchises of all time. This franchise is more than Don Mancini’s prized possession; it’s his baby. He dedicated 30 years of his life to Child’s Play. With 5 theatrical releases, 2 direct-to-DVD movies, and an upcoming USA series, Child’s Play remains one of the longest-running horror franchises of all time. Now, since Orion Pictures (which owns the rights to the original film) has been revived by MGM, it seems only right to tear down the house Mancini built by rebooting/reimagining/remaking/rewhatevering Child’s Play… without his involvement.
This hasn’t been the greatest year for remakes, so I had a huge fear of watching this. Since last week’s major releases kicked my ass and drained the ever living soul out of me, I wasn’t looking forward to this at all. Either my excitement barometer was low as hell or I was begging for scraps of good cinema because of how god awful last week’s releases were, but I ended up thoroughly having a blast with this.
One of the best aspects that the Child’s Play franchise was built from was the dark comedic tone in Mancini’s script. This latest film is a straightforward horror comedy. Though it doesn’t have the creator’s voice attached, screenwriter Tyler Burton Smith captures the same twisted spirit present in the Child’s Play sequels. Tonally speaking, it’s similar to Child’s Play 2 where the dark comedy was doubled down on. Though the humor ranges from subtle self-awareness to straightforward comedy, it’s relatively consistent and balanced with the horror. Even though I said it captures Mancini’s dark comedic humor, the twisted nature sort of resembles South Park. No, it doesn’t bear the subtle sharp wit of the series, but the hysterical deviance is present and makes for a fun time. Believe it or not, a good number of the jokes land mostly due to the consistent tone and the talented cast.
Gabriel Bateman does a fantastic job as Andy, capturing the sensibilities of a kid his age. The majority of the time you feel bad for him because of the life he’s leading, even before this killer doll fucks it up for him. Brian Tyree Henry is charming and hilarious every moment he’s on screen as he plays (for the 3rd time now) a detective who Andy forms a friendship with. There is a natural charm to Henry and it’s good to see him let loose like this. Granted, his character is very reminiscent of Jefferson Davis from Spider-Verse, but you’re still enthralled by his charisma. Then, you have Aubrey Plaza, who plays Andy’s mom, Karen. You know if you put Plaza in anything, it’s bound to be funny. This is her first mom role and while you’re thinking she might be a bit too young to play a mom, or for you weirdos thinking --
-- the film addresses that and it never seems distracting. As a matter of fact, the film often addresses a lot of your concerns going into it, from the unbelievability of a 12-year-old Andy owning a toy doll to Karen being a young mom, which people often confuse as Andy’s sister, it works in context to the story and never slows down to take you out of it. I love how the film makes Karen a flawed single mom trying the best she can to raise her kid. The two are new residents in a low-class Chicago apartment in the most dangerous part of town and, with Karen being a clerk at a third-party electronic store, you initially sympathize with them.
In this modernized update, Chucky is in the form of a multipurpose toy called “Buddi,” which is like an Alexa mixed with a smartphone. His origin is sillier and contains the same sci-fi take as every AI-gone-wrong storyline, but I appreciate how the relationship between Andy and Chucky is established and developed. While the design of the “buddi” doll is so drop dead ugly that it’s a hard pill for you to swallow that any family would invest of owning one in their household, especially when there’s a shit-ton of actual cute toy designs to base off of as inspiration, Mark Hamill’s voice compensates for the odd design. Undoubtedly, Mark Hamill is one of the most iconic voice actors in the business. He’s no stranger to portraying Chucky either, for he briefly voiced him in a Robot Chicken sketch in 2005. But he makes the killer doll his own with this iteration.
Because he was reprogrammed terribly wrong, Chucky doesn’t abide by his AI system, making him more prone to violence and being creepily clingy. Think Ralph Breaks the Internet but make it horror for how a lot of the theme (besides the obvious technophobia) is set on toxic friendships. He’s not just Andy’s best friend, but his obsession. This Chucky will watch you as you sleep, wait for you by the door for you to come home, and kill anyone who does you harm. He’s just one notch away of creating an Andy shrine comprised of his hair strands. Hell, out of all those aspects, what makes him distinctly terrifying is his consistently calming and nurturing voice, in the same vein as Barney the Dinosaur, to the extent that he has his own “I Love You”-styled theme. So, those factors of a clingy and loving doll that kills that you sort of sympathize with because, despite his murderous tendencies, he often means well, makes for a chilling take. Plus, the film does a solid job establishing the influences and inadvertent enabling of Chucky’s murders, delivering a believable motivation for him.
And I got to say, from an audience’s standpoint, the film does a good job getting you onboard with Chucky’s murders. Seriously, if you are either an asshole or a creep or a potential new BFF for Andy you’re going to die. By the first kill, I might’ve been sadistically thinking:
OKAY, QUICK PSA TO SCREENWRITERS:
A “millennial” is a person who was born between 1981-1996 (22-37 years old). Not kids who are around 12-14 years old Try to learn what a millennial is before you deliver a throwaway joke about ‘em.
Alright, back to the review.
While I appreciate how aware this reimagining is and the liberties it takes in its narrative plotting to set itself apart from the original, Child’s Play has major trouble finding its voice. It has the tone down perfectly as it balances the gory horror with humor, but it doesn’t develop all the elements of the characters and their relationships, aside from Chucky and Andy’s, to get a proper resonance with the characters. When the supporting cast is introduced, such as Brian Tyree Henry or the kids in Andy’s apartment that he befriends, they’re well-executed but they don’t rush through the proper beats for you to care about them, especially since there are glimpses of inspiration from existing properties on Netflix. A lot of the technophobia material is executed much better in Black Mirror. In terms of screenwriting, this film felt like a decent first draft of a reboot that could’ve been better developed and pushed further.
Ever since I saw the poster for Seed of Chucky in a newspaper when I was 6 years old, I was scared as shit of Chucky. I was ALWAYS frightened by his design and his voice. Chucky has always been fucking scary to me, meaning I never willingly watched a Child’s Play movie… until this weekend. It was the cathartic closure I needed to prepare myself for this movie. By watching the original Child’s Play for the first time, I was able to experience the shock and frightfulness of Chucky coming to life, but there was also a story that pushed further into uncomfortable territory. For God’s sake, they put a fucking six-year-old kid in a psychiatric ward.
I’m not saying this had to follow that same dark route, but it could’ve done something much more bold. Even by the climax, when new ideas are established and it becomes the closest thing to an adaptation of Five Nights at Freddy’s, it backpedals away from it. There is no real sense of dread or terror to come from this Chucky because it’s using comedy as the backbone to do an abundant amount of the heavy lifting.
In this film, they give Andy a disability which is his loss of hearing. Because he’s deaf, he has to wear a hearing aid and it doesn’t serve much of a purpose other than enhancing the horror aspect a bit when chaos occurs and Chucky begins to fuck with him. It’s not really bothersome per se because I’m grateful that it’s not used as some sort of a deus ex machina or anything, but it’s kind of unnecessary.
That said, this movie is aware of its absurdity and the take it’s going for. Amongst the amount of fucking garbage that is in theaters now, this is undoubtly the best you’re gonna get. This is a reimagining that takes advantage of its modern update and delivers a balanced set of thrills and laughs, which has been completely absent from so many blockbusters this month. It’s fun and breezy but needed to be more developed to properly set itself as its own. But hey, it only takes 90 minutes to get to its end goal at a fast pace and keeps you thoroughly entertained, which is more than I can say for the abundant amount of trash films these days.
Maybe last week was too much of a theatrical kick in my ass that I lost all taste in film and I just throw a decent rating at anything that gives me a good time, but hot damn this was fun! Don Mancini, your baby hasn’t been bastardized. In fact, it’s been sort of reimagined, updated, and slightly reinvigorated. Congrats 2019, you made ONE good remake. ONE! You win a thumbs up.
Though it’s not developed enough storytelling-wise and often plays safe with its ideas, Child’s Play (2019) takes the initial tone of the original series, adds an updated burst of energy and thrills, and delivers a fun 90-minute horror rollercoaster that keeps you entertained. It’s a killer time at the theater that many will enjoy.
Rating: 3.5/5 | 73%
