Karen, a single mother, gifts her son Andy a Buddi doll for his birthday, unaware of its more sinister nature. A contemporary re-imagining of the 1988 horror classic.
Child's Play entertainingly catapults a mechanical Chucky to the Internet era. As with most modern unnecessary remakes of classic horror slashers (and trust me, there are far too many of them), I sat down in my seat with the lowest of expectations. Why remake something if decisions aren't put in place to change the story? Well, the silly fool that I am was proved wrong. This rebooted interpretation of Holland's original takes Chucky down a surprisingly interesting direction that seems more apt than ever before. A high-tech doll has its safety features removed, consequently making it susceptible to violence. But when a mother chooses to gift this malfunctioned doll to her son, well, better hide the kitchen knives!
The best way to modernise a story, is to use the advanced technology that surrounds us hard-working humans everyday. Cloud technology, robotics, smartphones, artificial intelligence and the uprising of self-driving vehicles. Chucky, now immersed in this environment, is a product of its external factors. The whole "serial killer transferring his soul via voodoo magic" nonsense is old news. And despite having that B-movie charm, it wouldn't have been effective if released today. This was the only, and most logical, route to go down and shockingly it made for an enjoyable slasher. A doll designed to be a guardian angle figure, now gone psychotic due to the excessive violence that is depicted through several art forms (film, gaming etc.). Satirising the digital era and "millennial" behaviour, even though these kids aren't exactly millennials.
Regardless, it worked for me. Sure the tone is occasionally inconsistent to begin with, and Klevberg certainly takes his time in letting Chucky inventively kill those that will get in the way of its friendship with Andy. But once Chucky claims its first victim, the fun rarely ceases.
The biggest upset, apparently, is with Chucky's design. It definitely is a sight to behold, but once you get passed the initial "what the hell is that thing" the design grows on you. Like a friend. A best friend. "You are my buuuuuddyyyy"! What helps is Hamill's stellar voice acting, ranging from sweet and innocent to creepy and sinister. However, Dourif's relentless wave of expletives was sorely missed, which did give Chucky a huge dosage of personality. The animatronics were decent, not as revolutionary or inventive, although the moments of CGI were far too noticeable and took me straight out of the film. Glitches and all. This was apparent during the anticlimactic final showdown which felt ridiculously rushed and messy.
In terms of human characters, Bateman gave an excellent performance and held the film together. Plaza on the other hand, was drastically underused. Some comedic moments from her would've been appreciated. Oh, I will say there is a scene involving a wrapped up "watermelon" that had me on the edge of my seat, as if it was Christmas. Will they open it? Won't they? Good lord I can't look!
Overall, whilst not surpassing the original in terms of memorability, this remake certainly had more context and believability to it that programmatically suited my tastes. The first and last ten minutes should've been tidier, but t'was an enjoyable time nonetheless. Would I want my own Buddi? No. I'll pass on the whole robot "Skynet" apocalypse scenario...
