When a faulty Kaslan Buddi doll is returned to a store due to its red eyes, a mother gives it to her 13-year-old son as an early birthday present unaware of its potentially evil nature.
Directed by Lars Klevberg the Child’s Play remake is a crowd pleaser with a handful of over the top Saw, Friday the 13th, Halloween, Puppet Master-like gory graphic kills.
Tyler Burton Smith's writing is only novel if you've not seen advanced the tech toys in Small Soldiers or integrated App controlling in Terminator Genisys to name a few. Here the A.I. Buddi doll from Kaslan Cooperation has been reprogrammed and it's safety restrictions removed by a disgruntled Vietnamese worker who shortly after commits suicide. Later after bonding with Andy the 'learning' Chucky goes on an over protective rampage.
Smith borrows heavily from Joe Dante's aforementioned Soldiers and Don Mancini's Cult of Chucky especially in the closing where Chucky takes control of a variety of toys and the latest line of Buddi Dolls.
As Chucky slashes and stabs his (preferred way of killing) way through the paper thin plot (gone is the supernatural voodoo aspect of the original) Smith also throws in an E.T., Goonies group of kids which also echoes the popular Stranger Things to cover all bases. The cat versus Chucky feels a little too nasty. In addition, the Texas Chainsaw gag and skin mask nod is so outlandish and early on in the film, it steals any real credence to the derivative proceedings. The pervert in the basement is a mashup straight out of Hardware and The Resident.
Mark Hamill is fine as the voice of Chucky, complete with a well delivered catchy Buddi song. Hamill offers a serial killer calm and sinister edge to Chucky but arguably he's less menacing than his predecessor Brad Dourif. Gabriel Bateman's Andy Barclay is solid enough even if reminiscent of the child in The Predator but never is truly fearful of Chucky even after finding his mom's boyfriend's face. Through no fault of actor Aubrey Plaza as Karen Barclay, the slutty mom thing stops you really caring for the character. Likeable Brian Tyree Henry's Detective Mike Norris feels wasted. The death of his mother is too circumstantial for you to buy into his brief investigations.
While this 2019 unoriginal version is well put together, briskly paced with great effects, Klevberg vision doesn't have the weight, wit or tension of the original Child's Play. It's feels like a studio property money making exercise (that it does successfully) for the common denominator and demographics. Nevertheless, it's worth watching once if only for the Hamill and the FX.
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