My Review of Child's Play (2019)

 

Written by Tyler Burton Smith

Directed by Lars Klevberg

Chucky: "If they don't let us play, they all go away."

After seven movies of following the same continuity, for some reason not only was it time for this franchise to go back to theatres but it was also time for it to get a reboot.

Reboots are mixed bags. Sometimes they're moderately decent like A Nightmare On Elm Street (imo of course) or flat out terrible like Halloween and Friday The 13th. This reboot felt it had elements of both. I didn't hate this movie but I definitely didn't love it either.

One of the best elements of this franchise was the idea of the soul of a serial killer trapped inside the body of a Good Guy Doll. This time around it's MyBuddi Doll also named Chucky (Mark Hamill) and it's more of an AI gone bad than an actual serial killer.

On the other hand, we have Andy Barclay (Gabriel Bateman) and his mother, Karen (Aubrey Plaza) - the latter working in the store where Chucky was sold. They have a bit of strained dynamic and at first Andy's resistant to Chucky before accepting him as a friend. Then Andy made some real friends with Falyn (Beatrice Kitsos) and Pugg (Ty Consiglio) as well as a frenemy in Omar (Marlon Kazadi).

Andy's dynamic does seem a bit more fleshed out but when Chucky murdered the cat and even Karen's awful boyfriend Shane (David Lewis), even Andy knew that Chucky was bad news. Then there was Detective Mike Norris (Bryan Tyree Henry) and his mother, Doreen (Carlease Burke), both decent characters that intersect into Andy and Chucky's story well enough.

As for the final act, it's not entirely dissimilar to a movie that would come out years later and would be far better overall. There was also a clear sequel hook but considering how this franchise would pan out, this wasn't meant to be. 

- The only movie in the franchise with no involvement with creator Don Mancini. I don't think he was a fan of this.

- Mike mixed up Millennials and Gen Z and that Tupac reference just didn't work at all.

- Standout music: The Buddi Song, which was used a lot in the movie.

- Chronology: 2019 Chicago, seemingly around Christmas time.

Child's Play (2019) certainly isn't awful but as a reboot, it definitely lacked. I'm a fan of Mark Hamill but Brad Dourif is Chucky and the change up of the character's backstory just didn't work for me. I'm really glad we got the TV series after this one.

Rating: 6 out of 10