Movie Review: Child’s Play

By Ryan Grow | June 28, 2019

Chucky Is Back And Still Just As Creepy And Entertaining

Chucky has made his big return to the big screen in a surprisingly fun and interesting way with the help of the legendary Mark Hamill.

After moving to a new city, young Andy Barclay (Gabriel Bateman) receives a special present from his mother (Aubrey Plaza) — a seemingly innocent Buddi doll that becomes his best friend. When the doll suddenly takes on a life of its own, Andy unites with other neighborhood children to stop the sinister toy from wreaking bloody havoc.

Back in 1988, Don Mancini and Tom Holland created a unique horror film about a serial killer who uses the power of voodoo to put his soul into a popular children’s toy. You would think that this would be a box office flop, but instead became a massive success and turned Chucky into a pop culture icon and sprawling a franchise.

Now, 31 years later, Chucky returns in a brand new way despite the original series continuing under the eyes of original creator Don Mancini, with an SYFY television series currently in development. With an entirely new backstory for the killer dol and an all-star cast, the Child’s Play reboot still manages to feel fresh.

Child’s Play is actually a pretty decent film but feels more like an episode of Black Mirror than a reimagining of a popular horror franchise. This mainly is due to the creative team’s decision to change the origin of Chucky from being possessed by a serial killer to just being evil and out of control A.I.

Another major change is that Andy is 13, and it’s a narrative choice that pays off and can also be relatable at times. Rising star Gabriel Bateman portrays Andy and believably showcases all of Andy’s emotions and makes you truly feel for the character. Aubrey Plaza plays his mother, Karen and it was hard at first to see her in that role, but Plaza pulled it off beautifully. Karen is still a loving, poor, single mother attempting to provide for her son, but is kind of neglectful with a bad taste in men.

But its really Brian Tyree Henry’s Detective Mike that is easily the best and arguably the most fun character, even though he isn’t the best detective. Mark Hamill is the new voice of Chucky and is something different from Brad Dourif’s Charles Lee Ray as a home help who can connect to all the Kaslan tech.

Director Lars Klevberg uses practical puppetry for the Buddi doll making him so creepy that you just can’t ignore it. The film itself is unnerving through the first two acts with a few kills that will please horror fans. The third act though is by far the best part of the film and will hopefully excite viewers.

Overall, Child’s Play is actually a great film and Mark Hamill was definitely the right person to bring this new Chucky to life. Hopefully, horror fans will give this film a chance to become something amazing and spawn a new franchise.

Critic Rating; 4/5 stars

What did you think of the new Chucky? Sound off in the comments.