Child’s Play Doesn’t Capture the Charm of the Original... However it’s a Good Time Grade: B

Source: IMDB

Child’s Play is about a single mother Karen (Aubrey Plaza) and her son Andy (Gabriel Bateman). Andy really wants a Buddi doll, so Karen fortunately gets him one. Terror awaits Andy, as his Buddi doll whom calls itself Chucky (Mark Hamill) is a toy that’s gone bad. As some of you know the Child’s Play franchise is one I personally enjoy, I’ve enjoyed all the films in some way except for Seed of Chucky. When I heard they were rebooting the series, I was unhappy due to the fact the current series is still going strong. But I put my differences aside as I hope this new version entertained me. The Cinematography is fine, there’s not many shots worth praising for. The Score was cool, the horror theme music works well and I do enjoy that silly You Are My Buddi song as well. Let’s talk about the new design for Chucky... It looks terrible. I’ll give some credit that the design shines in one scene, where Andy tells Chucky to make disturbing faces, that was funny. But the overall design of the thing is so atrocious, I don’t know why they shifted away from the original design which was GREAT. But all I kept thinking of is who would buy this and think it looks enjoyable to play with?! The cast of this film was... Alright. Last time I’ve seen Aubrey Plaza in a movie it was Ingrid Goes West, she was great in that check that movie out as well. In this film she’s flat, she didn’t look like she wanted to be there as almost every single line of dialogue was flat. If you compare Aubrey to the original role of the mother played by Catherine Hicks, Hicks runs many miles over her performance it’s not even close. Gabriel Bateman playing the role Andy was fine, here and there he struggled a bit, but he was kind of enjoyable as a potty mouth Andy. I didn’t get much of a mother son connection between Bateman and Plaza either. The characters whom I mostly enjoyed the most were Detective Mike Norris (Brian Tyree Henry) and Doreen (Carlease Burke), both likable characters, both have great chemistry as mother and son, as I both enjoyed their performances too. Mark Hamill had some pretty big shoes to fill, as he tries to compete with the iconic voice of Chucky Brad Dourif. Of course Brad would come out victorious, he is Chucky, he’s the reason why some films whom aren’t that very good, still remained worth being watchable because he makes the films flat out entertaining. I felt Mark Hamill did a fair job, sometimes felt like a Dourif impression, but held his own. I kind of liked what this film did with Chucky, although having literally no personality whatsoever, Chucky was kind of funny through silliness as well as he did act a bit disturbing as well. Let’s get one flaw out the way: Those jump scare sequences were flat out stupid, they didn’t work at all, cut them out. So my expectations for this film remained considerably low. I know that it would never compare to the original film, it’s a classic to me and it’s just wonderful. This film would never capture the creativity, originality, humor, and even charm of that film. I came out of this film happy, I enjoyed myself. The new direction this film went with was something we have seen before in other films, regarding technology gone wrong. But the goofy path they went with I indeed kind of dig it. A Vietnamese worker sabotaging a Buddi doll, because his boss told him he’s worthless... It’s goofy as hell, but I don’t care the concept is goofy so it works. I did enjoy the fact this film brought us an established connection between Andy and Chucky fully this time. In the original one may complain the connection wasn’t fully developed, which I have no complaints towards because the connection is fine as it is. I like the fact this toy brought happiness towards Andy’s life, as he lived in a shit hole, barely made any friends, and was bored out of his mind. But when Chucky came along, he got a new friend and even made friends along the way, which a couple of those friends were fun characters. I’m truly surprised this film did not hold back on the violence, I enjoyed all of the gory deaths in this film, entertaining and gruesome, that’s what I want out of a Chucky film so thank you for that. The story works, it’s enjoyably goofy filled with entertainment and fun. Surprisingly despite Chucky not having a personality, which drives the humor tone of the previous films... This film was kind of funny, the humor somehow holds up. This is my third favorite Chucky film, behind the original and Curse of Chucky. I just had a good time, the film knew what it was and delivered in my eyes, I had a fun time with this new direction and it honestly felt like a 90’s film. Overall, Child’s Play was good. I recommend this film to those that are fans and whom aren’t fans of the Child’s Play franchise, it’s a good time at the movies. As a die hard fan this film didn’t angered me or disappoint me, besides the God Awful design of Chucky... This was dope. -Mitch Smietana