Child's Play (2019) - Review

Child's Play (2019). Starring Aubrey Plaza, Gabriel Bateman and Mark Hamill as the voice of Chucky.

One and a Half Stars.

SPOILERS


Being a person that's never been a big fan of the original Chucky franchise, I didn't have any reservations about this movie whatsoever.  The original movie is somewhat effective in how scary the doll comes across and the suspense building up.  Plus you had the talents of Brad Dourif, Victoria Tenant and Chris Sarandon in supporting roles.  All around, it's another moronic remake of a movie that was somewhat original, as opposed to the other entries during waning years of the original slasher boom. The ensuing sequels pretty much sucked, including the two comedies with Chucky's new family, not to mention recent fare like Cult of Chucky. 

For the first time in a while, I have found a remake to be entertaining, this remake to be exact.  I also feel like it's for the wrong reasons.  For instance, why did the filmmaker want a Chucky that looks and talks like Jack Black?  Was he influenced by watching the Goosebumps movies?  And why get Mark Hamill to voice him?  I mean, yes he's one of the best voice actors in the business.  But you could've had Jack Black do it himself under a pseudonym and no one would've noticed the difference. These are just a few of the large and sometime laughable flaws in the Chucky remake-reboot-regurgitate-re-what-the-hell-ever.

The new Chucky, an interactive and autonomous robot doll, is possessed this time by technology run amok as opposed to the soul of a satanic killer.  The updated social commentary provides an interesting twist, but it presents a very obvious flaw in the story.  None of these kids, including Andy (Bateman) seem to be that impressed with this doll, or at least not as impressed as they should be.  This fucking thing can learn, walk and talk, plus it's clearly capable of thought.  This never really gets explored, as the narrative seems to rush Chucky and Andy's relationship to the point where there's no real depth.  The toy does draw two new friends to Andy, but they're primary focus is to use Chucky for pranks and viral videos.  It isn't real dignified for a clearly sentient being. 

Now the character of Andy is just as tragic in this movie as in the original, dealing with poverty and trying to make ends meet with only one parent left in the house.  Andy's mom, Karen (Aubrey Plaza), is a retail associate struggling to make ends meet.  She's actually one of the big drags of the film and it's for the reason you would probably suspect.  If you're familiar with her character from Parks and Recreation, you know that she plays an irreverent-yet-quirky character.  The kind that's annoying as all hell?  The thing is, Aubrey Plaza is good in the right projects (i.e. Life After Beth), but playing the same disinterested free spirit that's taking care of a kid doesn't seem to mesh here.  It's like she has no real love for her kid at all, which doesn't generate sympathy for the character.

From there, we discover the doll has what can be ascertained as a glitch, which results in malevolent AI presenting itself.  Ultimately, you feel no fear towards this doll.  Which dolls are usually creepy in a sedentary way, but they're always benign in such a manner that you would always be able to shit stomp them into next Tuesday.  This doll is no exception, which is where it fails from the original.  Chucky 1989 was disturbing, especially backed with the vocal talents of Brad Dourif. Which is strange, seeing as how someone like Hamill, who is the voice of the animated Joker, would have such a hard time pulling this off.

Complete turd of a film and a remake at that.  Watch the new series on USA instead.