The good boy doll is now renamed the Buddi doll, part of a long line of electrical appliances managed by the Kaslan Corporation. Think Amazon’s Alexa in the shape of a doll instead of a boring old cuboid.
Not only do kids get a fun companion to play with, they get to browse Netflix, buy stuff online and call an Uber with it, all while monitoring its actions with a trusty mobile app.
It sounds neat, but things go south very fast with an opening scene that raises more questions about workplace ethics than any film titled ‘Child’s Play’ has the right to do.
A defective doll ends up in the home of Andy (Gabriel Bateman) and Karen Barclay (Aubrey Plaza). Andy’s a lonely kid with a hearing disability, so his mom Karen gets him the doll as a gift to keep him company.
Andy names the doll Chucky (voice of Mark Hamill), and despite the malfunction, all Chucky wants to be is Andy’s best friend, forever and ever. With safety protocols removed due to said defect, things go from ‘Toy Story’ to ‘Terminator’ really fast.
If there is one reason to see this film, it’s Mark Hamill’s terrific vocal performance as the new Chucky. This Chucky looks completely off-kilter, even more than the original.
Hamill’s sinister vibes and creepy undertones completely honours both the spirit of the 1988 film as well as Brad Dourif’s gleefully sadistic original voice work while making it his own.
The film makers couldn’t have picked a better voice than the Joker himself. Do stay back for an end credit song where Hamill’s creepy vocals threaten to haunt viewers’ dreams.
Child’s Play is not a great film by any standard, and it’s cobbled together via spare parts of both HBO’s ‘Westworld’ and the jump-scare factory James Wan’s ‘Conjuring’ has fostered.
To be fair it’s fast-paced, slickly made and at times ferociously entertaining. It has an old-school 1980s horror vibe throughout, signalled at the very opening by the Orion Pictures logo.
On the basis of artificial intelligence literally overwhelming people the moment they get too attached, director Lars Klevberg and screenwriter Tyler Burton Smith deserve commendation for attempting to do something different with the franchise other than have yet another deranged voodoo-influenced doll go on a killing spree.
It’s also a surprisingly nasty and mean-spirited film, which is meant as a compliment. Human characters who are utterly despicable get dispatched by Chucky in horrific and graphic ways that are also bizarre and darkly comical.
Child’s Play has always been a franchise that teeter-totters between horror and dark comedy. With that aspect, many viewers may have a blast with the overblown emotion roller coaster of it all.
It’s not perfect, as per modern-day horror film clichés; there are characters that make really dumb decisions, and it’s utterly predictable even if viewers are not familiar with the original film.
The third act does not live up to the hugely entertaining first two acts. However, these are minor quibbles as the film is still old-school fun.
The spunky performance of young Gabriel Bateman is convincing enough to steer the film away from complete implausibility.