by It’s going to be difficult for me to remain impartial for this review. The original Child’s Play was a very important horror film for me when I was growing up. Chucky was, and still is, one of my most favorite horror icons and easily the scariest doll featured in any movie, ever. I was happy that the series found somewhat of a resurgence with Curse/Cult of Chucky, and to my surprise, a completely unrelated remake of the original. The latter is the subject of today’s review. I was disappointed to learn that this new take on the classic story lacks Brad Dourif (the voice of Chucky) and instead everyone’s favorite doll is played by Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker of Star Wars) oddly enough. Despite some concerns I went in with an open mind. Child’s Play is a decent enough horror film but honestly it should have been an entirely original movie because it pales in comparison.
Like in the original version this film centers around a boy named Andy Barclay who lives with him mom in an apartment in Chicago, but this time our protagonist is more of a young teenager than child. He and his mom are a bit at ends; they just moved here for a fresh start so he doesn’t yet have any friends, and he cannot stand his mom’s new and short tempered boyfriend Shane. Meanwhile the Kaslan Corporation has launched their line of Buddi dolls; smart toys that can link up with and control the appliances around your home. In the sweatshop in Vietnam where these are produced one of the employees exacts revenge on his boss after being fired by disabling all safety protocols on one of the toys before committing suicide by jumping out of the window. This Buddi doll is packaged and shipped off with the others prepared for sale to an unwitting consumer.
This customer just happens to be Mrs. Barclay, or rather, she gets to take the doll home for Andy after it is returned and she blackmails her boss. The boy at first dismisses the toy because he thinks he’s too old. To appease his mother he tries to set it up and give it a name, but the doll glitches and decides to call itself Chucky ignoring Andy’s wishes. The two start to bond and they manage to make friends with a few of the other kids who live nearby. Meanwhile Chucky begins acting up in some rather violent ways. He becomes deathly loyal to Andy and kills the cat after it scratches him. Things get turned up when Chucky answers Andy’s prayers by getting rid of Shane for him. Andy and friends decide they must put the Buddi doll to rest, but Chucky is becoming smarter and more aware by the day so it’s not going to be as easy as they think.
Let’s start with the cast. Brad Dourif is what makes Chucky, well Chucky. There simply cannot be a Child’s Play movie without him, and because of this the remake lacks any and all atmosphere or semblance of any of the other films in the series. Mark Hamill is an odd choice to play the voice of the doll. He does a decent enough job of sounding menacing and child-like, but the performance just didn’t fit a murderous doll to me. I had a hard time appreciating Chucky because of this. Gabriel Bateman does a decent enough job as Andy, and all of the lesser roles of his friends are decently cast as well. The only other cast member I didn’t like was Aubrey Plaza. It’s nothing against her, and she’s a decent enough actor, but she has been too typecast for horror. In every serious scene I kept holding my breath waiting for her to deliver a dead-pan one-liner. I thought she was an odd choice.
I really didn’t like the lore for Chucky this time around. The voodoo and mysticism angle in the original was creepy and fit the story well. This time around him simply being an A.I. is a bit of a cop-out. The very fact that there are ‘fail-safe’ programs, and that they directly refer to things like violence is a weak and lazy plot angle. The fact that Chucky can also control appliances , and does so en masse during the finale, is yet another weird plot device that I never thought worked particularly well. I will however give kudos to the writers for the gradual build-up of Chucky becoming more and more violent. This angle was pulled off decently, and I thought it was a great reference when Chucky quotes and imitates Leatherface and chop-top from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2. That was a great nod to classic horror that as a big fan of the genre I appreciated.
I’ll admit that I couldn’t get through this one without comparing it to the original. I really do wish the filmmakers had simply changed a few things around and called this something entirely different because it has some decent ideas behind it. The film just pales in comparison to the original, and it doesn’t even feel like a Child’s Play film. Besides being miscast in a few roles, the story developing too slowly, and a weak finale this one could have been a decent standalone horror film. Granted, less people would have seen it, but it also wouldn’t have been directly compared to an absolutely legendary and iconic horror film. I recommend this one more to casual horror fans; preferably those that haven’t seen the original or at least aren’t invested in the original Chucky concept. This one just doesn’t scratch the Chucky itch. Like, at all.
Child's Play
0.00
Pros
- Decent effects
- Likeable cast
Cons
- Not scary
- Missing the heart and soul of the Chucky franchise
