MPAA Rating: R/Genre: Horror/Stars: Aubrey Plaza, Gabriel Bateman, Brian Tyree Henry, Tim Matheson, Beatrice Kitsos, Ty Consiglio, Marlon Kazadi, David Lewis, Carlease Burke, Trent Redekop, Amro Majzoub, Nicole Anthony, Phoenix Ly; Voice of: Mark Hamill/Runtime: 90 minutes
I think it is safe to start this review off by telling you how in the long-ago year of 1988, a new entry in the pantheon of legendary horror movie villains was unleashed upon the world. Yes, he still wielded a knife, yes he had sarcastic quips to spare, and yes he still mercilessly terrorized/killed people. However, unlike a lot of his peers who are either human or supernatural/fantastical in origin, this one was nothing more than a toy doll…. that also operated as a walking, talking conduit for the soul of a vicious serial killer. His name, in case you hadn’t put two and five together already, is Chucky and ever since his debut in the first Child’s Play movie in the previously mentioned year of 1988 he has gone on to become a truly iconic part of both horror cinema and pop culture in general to such an extent that people know fairly quickly who you are talking about when you describe him even if they have never seen any of his movies or the recent (and pretty wicked in a good way) TV show that has been airing on USA/Sci-Fi. Of course, as is common knowledge, when you have a franchise that has been going on for longer than a month, it isn’t too surprising to learn that sooner or later the powers that be in the world of entertainment are going to hit the big red button with the word “Reboot! Hit at Your Own Risk” emblazoned upon it so that way “younger generations can get their own interpretation of an iconic character” (moronic younger people get their own take on a character because they are too lazy to just appreciate the original). Suffice it to say therefore that this was also something that happened with good ol’ Chucky as not only did a remake get announced, but then in the year of 2019, this remake actually made it to theaters the exact same weekend as Toy Story 4 (talk about brilliant counterprogramming there) and with a cast including that woman who played April on Parks and Rec and none other than Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) himself taking over the vocal performance from the OG Chucky Brad Dourif. Surely then this whole collection of circumstances should equal pure outright laziness on the part of everyone involved……right? Well actually dear reader that wasn’t entirely the case. Yes, this slice of cinema is one that was most assuredly not needed, but it also is by no means a film where those involved aren’t actually putting in some kind of effort. Far from it actually. Rather, this is one remake that may not have been needed by any stretch of the imagination, but thanks to fairly decent work on both sides of the camera, is still not a terrible way to make the most of an hour and 30 minutes should you find yourself needing to do so.
The plot is as follows: So, in the world that is fairly quickly set up in this slice of cinema, we see that a giant in the tech development industry known as Kaslan Industries has just announced a new product known as the Good Guy Doll ehhh I mean Buddi (after all the name Good Guy Doll is just sooooo 1988 dear reader). Buddi, we quickly perceive, is a high-tech, and top of the line doll that has been designed by the company to not only be a lifelong friend and companion to their owner, but to also learn from their surroundings and, through the scientific wizardry of artificial intelligence, engage in proper responses to those established parameters. To no surprise, the company expects these dolls to be a phenomenal success and truthfully, I can definitely see how that might have been the case. Unfortunately, no one at the company really decided to take into account what would happen if one of these dolls became glitchy in ways I shan’t spoil here and then distributed out to the masses without anyone catching on to the doll in question’s problematic nature. At any rate, it isn’t long before our tiny two-legged terror has made his way to Chicago where he winds up in the hands of a single mom by the name of Karen Barclay who presents him as an early birthday gift to her son named Andy who has had trouble making friends as of late due to he and dear ol’ mom Karen moving into a new apartment. It isn’t long though before the doll’s programming kicks in and he has given himself the name of (you’re not going to believe this) Chucky along with the promise that he is Andy’s friend until the end. A claim that, initially, seems to be fairly genuine as both boy and doll are soon able to form quite the attachment to one another that also goes quite a way toward helping Andy make some friends with a couple of kids who live in the neighborhood as well. Of course, it isn’t long though before what started out as a moderately cute doll helping a young man get through a bit of a rough patch in his life starts ever so slowly turning into a vicious battle for survival against a machine that has taken on a life all its own. Thus, can Andy step up to the plate and put a stop to Chucky or is his friend till the end going to be successful in ensuring that any opposition to him being in Andy’s life is silenced permanently? That dear reader I will leave for you to discover for yourself…..
Now right off the bat, I will be the first to say that behind the camera the creative minds involved in the making of this slice of cinema did do one thing that is fairly commendable. That thing being that they elected to not go down the same old path for the origins for why this doll goes from (for lack of a better phrase) good guy to Stab Happy Chucky. As a result, gone is the degree of mysticism from the original which took the shape and form of voodoo magic and in its place instead is a degree of, in my opinion, low-grade high-tech terrorism. Thus, in that respect this slice of cinema is less Child’s Play and more like a feature length episode of that fantastic Netflix series Black Mirror or an updating of the iconic yet highly underrated movie Hardware from 1990. Yet whilst this does carry with it a positive of distinguishing it from what came before, there is also a problem to that as well. Namely that by attaching the name Child’s Play to this, you are opening the door to criticisms that are definitely fair to make, but also might not have been nearly as applicable had you made the choice to just make this a simple yet fun little B movie that had no ties to that previously established franchise whatsoever. With that minor little rant aside, it should be that this new stab at Child’s Play might not be that substantial and there are moments where you might find yourself looking at your watch (a bit worrisome seeing as how it is only 90 minutes long and that’s including credits), but when it finds its groove trust me when I say it definitely works fairly well. This starts with the fact that one of the more delightful aspects that this franchise has always gifted audiences in waves is the dichotomy that exists between how “cute” Chucky looks and how downright visceral his murder sprees tend to get. Suffice it to say that even though this dichotomy is not as present in this entry due to how Chucky looks a heck of a lot more sinister than adorable in this entry, it nevertheless is able to deliver on the second part of that previously mentioned equation fairly well. Sure, some of the set pieces are a bit on the elementary side including one that shows us some fairly talented utilization of both a ladder and Christmas decorations whilst others are a bit more intricate including one where we see smart tech change a typical boiler room into a literal room of terror. Be that as it may be though, there is no denying that every set piece in this proves to be triumphant in their respective attempts to ensure that your fondness for seeing visceral murder in movies like this doesn’t go unappreciated. Along with that though, I should also take the time to point out that this slice of cinema is one that is delightfully aware of who its audience is. As such, it does go for the gold quite a bit in trying to make those people satisfied. Yes some moments go too far and yes there are moments that are meant to be strange that come off as straight up idiotic, but there are also moments that if you let them do manage to work fairly well which help this film give you a chance to smile, however perversely, at what is going on.
Of course, the other big component to this slice of cinema would have to be the cast of performers assembled in front of the camera to bring the various collection of characters in this to life and they’re honestly not as terrible as you might be fearing. In that regard therefore, I guess I better get the big elephant in the room out of the way first. That of course being the vocal performance from none other than Mark Hamill in the role of this entry’s stab at the infamous Chucky. Now the reason I am getting into this performance first is not only because it was the one met with the most raised eyebrows, but also because for the majority (99.9%) of horror fans in the world there is only one Chucky and his name is Brad Dourif. With that in mind, I would like to point out that Hamill is not bad here, but before you go and get your pitchforks and torches, I would also like to say that Dourif will always be Chucky to me so there you go. Perhaps the main reason I applaud Hamill though is the fact that he knows how much Dourif’s vocal portrayal is beloved by the horror cinema community and as a result tries to make the role his own rather than copy in any way what Dourif has brought to the role so well. In particular, I feel that two areas that Hamill works really well here is not only in how genuinely sweet Chucky is at the beginning, but also in his increasing levels of both awareness of the world around him as well as the ominous and just straight up terrifying levels of peril he is willing to project onto others in defense of Andy. Thus no Hamill doesn’t come close to the work done by Dourif in the role of this iconic character, but darn it all if he doesn’t actually try to give an effective performance rather than merely engage in a tired retread of what has worked before. I also feel that the last part of that could also be described to the work done here by Bryan Tyree Henry in the role of Detective Mike Norris who was previously brought brilliantly to life in the 1988 original by Chris Sarandon. Yes, this take does remove Norris’ connection to Chucky that the original did so well, but Henry still does a great job at playing both the dedicated cop and loving son sides that distinguishes his take on Norris. Finally, I also would like to point out that in their takes on both Karen and Andy Barclay, we also get fairly good work here from Aubrey Plaza and Gabriel Bateman respectively. Yes, they aren’t nearly as good as Catherine Hicks or Alex Vincent, but both Plaza and Bateman do a wonderful job of getting the basics of their respective characters down fairly well whilst also both having a wonderful dynamic with each other and also fleshing their respective characters out in new and interesting ways that help to distinguish their portrayals from those that came before in this long and storied franchise. Suffice it to say that when you also factor in fairly on-point efforts from such talents as David Lewis and the always welcome Tim Matheson (Otter from 1978’s comedic masterpiece National Lampoon’s Animal House and VP John Hoynes in TV’s The West Wing) who is perfect casting for the role of Kaslan Industries CEO Henry Kaslan then what you get here is a collection of performances that are by no means great or even remotely Oscar-worthy, but also thankfully are not the lazy, sleepwalking types audiences (myself included) were afraid that we would get with this slice and dice installment of horror cinema.
All in all I cannot lie to you dear reader: I did break, however slightly, one of my own rules that I have in regard to reviewing when I stepped into the theater to first see this slice of cinema 4 years ago. That rule being to always strive to give the remake of a particular cinematic property the benefit of the doubt (especially when the price for going to see it is now over 15 dollars a ticket). Yet, unlike with some of the other remakes I have had the pleasure of watching, I found myself going into this one with both an already concocted mix of disdain in my gut and a more than abundant blend of skepticism in my mind. Not just because I’m a fan of all that came before in this franchise, but perhaps it was also because of how certain members of this slice of cinema’s creative team behind the camera treated main franchise writer Don Mancini (hint: it wasn’t the best by any stretch of the imagination). With that in mind though, by the time this slice of cinema’s third act got underway with nothing more and nothing less than organized chaos occurring on the silver screen in front of me, I found myself having to take those emotions and push them aside and just come to grips with the fact that, for all the flaws that this slice of cinema most assuredly has, I did find myself having a more significant degree of fun with the movie than I had anticipated I would when I was slow walking into it. Suffice it to say that yes this slice of cinema is by no means perfect and yes it also is by no means a unique entry in either the Child’s Play franchise or when it comes to the horror genre of movie magic in general. At the same time though, the work done behind the camera was capably done and the work by the cast in front of the camera was also good but not great as well. Thus, while I do believe this slice of cinema would have worked a lot better had it tried to be its own thing instead of a retread of a property near and dear to a lot of people’s hearts, the 2019 remake of Child’s Play is still a decent time to be had at best and a wonderful way to make the most of an hour and a half on a seemingly never-ending rainy day at worst. Make of that dear reader what thou will. On a scale of 1-5 I give Child’s Play “2019” a solid 3 out of 5.
