Childs Play (2019)-Review
The reboot of the classic 1990s horror movie about a childhood toy that comes to life has been updated with modern technology and modern kids. I practically grew up with the Child’s Play franchise and have been a long time fan. Despite these facts I entered into the reboot with an open mind, and I still didn’t enjoy myself.
From the first time the audience saw Chucky on screen I knew it was going to be a rough ride. I had never heard an entire theater of industry professionals laugh out loud at something that wasn’t obviously meant to be funny. Chucky just looked dumb. It was a bad character design reboot.
The plot, which has more holes in it than Swiss cheese, is the best place to start. Chucky is an interactive, high-tech Buddi, the “i” makes it cooler, doll that has his safety parameters revoked by a low level disgruntled employee who gets fired for having a day dreaming problem. He then immediately kills himself. That’s it. This was one of those moments in the film that were pivotal to the story but was made insignificant. I feel that the creators missed a great opportunity here. They had all the elements but failed to connect the dots. They never told us why the employee kept daydreaming. They could’ve had him be a crazed religious man whose tortured soul inhabited Chucky after his tragic death…nope. Chucky just has Bad code.
The bad Chucky gets shipped and ends up with one family who was smart enough to return the defective doll. They seemed unharmed despite the dolls weirdness. Andy’s mom, played by the charming Audrey Plaza, decided to re-gift the item to Andy. Andy is a weird kid with weird friends who help Chucky become the monster he is, done in an amusing montage but the whole time I’m left asking, why not just take down the WiFi and go to “airplane” mode and be done with it. The doll wasn’t supernatural like the original Chucky. Even the reason behind his name being Chucky made no sense. Andy suggested Han Solo, a nod to Hamil, but there’s no reason why it defaulted to Chucky. In the original Chucky was the nickname of murderer Charles Lee Ray who possessed the doll when he was wounded in a gunfight with police. When Andy asked him his name in privately he told him his name was Chucky. That’s creepy. There was no urgency in the new Chucky killing Andy as in the original. In the OG if Chucky didn’t find a young host body, Charles Lee Ray’s black evil soul would be stuck in the doll. This new Buddi doll was just a doll. Nothing supernatural which made it strange that he had such strength for just being a kids toy. As silly as it sounds the whole premise made more sense when there was a supernatural element to the story.
I was excited that Mark Hamil was going to voice Chucky but it wasn’t anything that stood out as particularly Hamil. Might as well have been Seth Green. Sorry Mark, this wasn’t your best work!
Audrey plaza was the saving grace of this film. Her overall presence brightens any screen. She’s my new favorite hot mom for sure and did a great job in playing a believable affectionate caring cool mom roll.
There were some jump scares but I wouldn’t call the movie scary. The gore was on point and the death scenes were creative but a kids doll that’s just a doll isn’t that scary.
Kudos to the director for going with puppets and animatronics for most of Chucky, however, the CG that was in the film wasn’t that great and was obvious.
Overall C+/B-.