Child's Play (HEAVY SPOILERS)

Imagine my surprise when I jumped on here and saw that my last review was for Cult of Chucky. Ironic!

Alright, been another rough couple of years and not a lot of time to watch scary movies, but I'm working on a podcast project that I'm eventually going to transfer all of my attention to, so 'scuse me for not updating.

In that time it was announced that a Child's Play remake was finally moving forward. I allowed myself to be a little excited, because I love the Chuckster and Don Mancini has such a vice grip on the franchise (and I mean that in a positive way) that I was interested to see what someone else would do to the Child's Play elements if given a chance. Well, fast forward a little bit to when they revealed that Chucky was not going to be Charles Lee Ray, but a rogue AI. Cue complete and utter disappointment.

Then a few things happened to get me interested again. One was the advertising campaign, which was a lot of fun with a Kaslan Corp website and an interactive Buddi doll AMA on Reddit. Hey, the marketing people know how to get a buzz going. Cool! Also an announcement that Mark Hamill was going to be the voice of Chucky replacing the brilliant Brad Dourif (my man!) What a casting! I was wondering--if Brad isn't coming back, what brilliant VO could take on the mantle? But I will get to gushing about Mark's performance soon.

I guess in spite of my disappointment the ad campaign was enough to get me back on board the hype train, and I dragged my wife kicking and screaming to see the film yesterday. We both had so much fun. My wife, who is an admitted Not-Fan-of-Chucky-Films, seemed to really enjoy herself a lot.

So, what is going to make you go see this film, if you are a fan of the original and you find the idea of no-Charles disgusting? Well, I dunno. Maybe you should work on getting over your own prejudice and just try to have a fun time? But that's counter-intuitive. This movie is a lot of fun and it has a lot of fun with itself and the audience. The core characters--Andy, his mom, Andy's two friends, the detective who isn't Chris Sarandon but a black guy who is actually a really funny, down-to-earth character--all of them are great and a lot of fun. But the crowning achievement here goes to Mark Hamill.

Mark's Chucky is innocent, I tell ya. He is programmed to learn, but those programs have inhibiting functions that are disabled by a disgruntled factory worker (who goes on to commit suicide afterward). He's not evil in the sense that a sadist like Charles Lee Ray is evil. He's more of a Frankenstein's monster misguided evil. All he wants to do is be Andy's buddy, but what Andy and his friends teach him bad behaviors and he learns and applies his programming in the worst ways. And damn, Mark Hamill pulls the opposite performance of Brad Dourif and makes you SAD FOR CHUCKY. What the hell is this? And why is it working so well!? The performance Mark gives as a misunderstanding AI just trying to please its new best friend is...kinda heartwrenching for such a silly flick.

It gives a surprising depth to the proceedings, and Chucky's plight as a rogue AI reflects on all the characters he affects as well, giving them all a little blood drop's worth of depth as well. Through Chucky, Andy meets new friends--something he has been struggling with from the beginning of the film. But also through Chucky's manipulating later in the film, Andy almost loses everything. Through Chucky, Andy's mom learns of what an asshole her would-be boyfriend is. But also through Chucky, she is put through the ringer as a mother when he is murdered and she has to deal with her son who she believes is going nutters. Through Chucky, Andy and Detective Norris begin developing their own sweet relationship. But also through Chucky, that relationship becomes strained when a jealous Chucky murders Norris's mom, leading Norris on a trail back to Andy himself.

Chucky, it turns out, is a complicated character, and he complicates the story in the best possible ways. The best part about this new doll is that he is an Amazon Echo-like toy, and he is able to connect to other Kaslan products to help make playtime with kids a better experience for them. This means that when he goes rogue in the second half of the film, he's able to do all sorts of mean and nasty things like heat up the temperature of a room, turn off and on lights, control televisions, record video, etc.

The most fun thing that happens in the movie, however, is in the climax when Chucky is able to gain control of a Zed Mart's stock of Buddi 2 dolls--the latest iteration of the Buddi product. Chucky and his army of dolls go on a killing spree throughout the shopping center during the unveiling. Unfortunately, the army carnage doesn't last too long and we are back down to the one doll for a final showdown.

I loved this movie. It was just a lot of fun, just like the original and the rest of the movies in the series. It's not too scary (like an Ari Aster flick) and its...fun. That's all I can say about it. Just go and have fun. Forget about Charles Lee Ray for an instant and enjoy the Buddi doll iteration of Chucky. Besides, Don Mancini is still working on a Chucky series set in the original universe. What can you lose?

I give Child's Play 2019 an A-. Somebody buy me a Buddi doll please.