Child's Play (2019)
Directed By: Lars Klevberg
Written By: Tyler Burton Smith
Jun 21, 2019 Wide
Cast: Aubrey Plaza, Brian Tyree Henry, Gabriel Bateman, Mark Hamill, Tim Matheson
Rating: R (for bloody horror violence, and language throughout)
Genre: Horror
Runtime: 90 minutes
Studio: Orion Pictures
A contemporary re-imagining of the 1988 horror classic, Child's Play follows Karen (Aubrey Plaza), a single mother who gifts her son Andy (Gabriel Bateman) a Buddi doll, unaware of its more sinister nature.
Review by: TanyaC
3 1/2 Sheep
Walking into the theater, I wasn’t expecting much but maybe a few squeals and some good wholesome artificially douched, way too buttered, buttered popcorn. I left surprisingly pleased. After I got over the initial shock of how freaky the new Chucky doll actually looks, creepy factor all within itself, I have to say that I actually found the movie pleasantly entertaining. Now whoa nelly! Let’s not go too far. I am not saying that this movie will be nominated for an oscar, nor am I insinuating that Aubrey Plaza, the actress who plays the mother in the movie, will be practicing acceptance speeches for best actress any time soon for this specific role, (even though she was really good, props), but it was good. So let’s open this babydoll up.
Let us revisit the first Chucky. Thinking back to the 1988's Child’s Play, the original plot had Chucky possessed by the soul of a deranged serial killer. No souls or demon possession here. Our 2019 Chucky has a super-smart program that has been modified, amazingly in just mere minutes, by a disgruntled employee, to have safety filters, violence control and speech filters disabled. Pretty high tech, if you ask me for a dude on an assembly line making 25 cents an hour, but anyhoo.
If you can just ignore some totally, unbelievable plot holes like that and things like, how can a doll be strong enough to do any of the things he’s doing? I mean, does he have a metal skeletal bone structure in there or something? And how the hell is he so fast? Oh yeah, and the technology allows him to experience real feelings, that’s a ginger head-scratcher right there. I just can’t resist one last itsy bitsy thing, how are his little nubby plastic fingers even large enough to grip a knife? I don’t know, just understand that I try not to think too hard about these things because it will definitely ruin a movie, for me at least. So dumb yourself down when you go.
The character development for all the main characters was really good for this kind of movie, at least. I suppose its a common trend, nowadays, to have a Goonie-ish /Stranger Things kinda vibe going on in movies with a group of kids, and this was on the verge of rocking that, slightly. There are kids. Kids are funny. You care about them. They are important. So I get it. Chucky certainly wanted to be Andy’s only friend, but that just isn’t reality you demented little doll. SMH. Therapy, right? The movie spent just enough time on the human characters to make the movie interesting and keep you invested, because y'all, that doll is freaky looking.
At first, I felt a little connected to that doll just a little bit. Like how could that be, you may ask? At first, Chucky seemed to appear to be a ripe little sponge, learning all the wonderful things in the world. He played real nice until those shi*head kids started watching a slasher movie, and it was all a barrel of blood and guts rolling downhill from there. Insert regular Chucky standard gory shenanigans, a heroic save at the end and the always required I’ll be back wink, and you got Child’s Play 2019 wrapped up in butcher paper and crimson bow. I liked it. Worth seeing on the big screen for sure. It’s a lot of fun, and I didn’t feel like I wasted my money. So win-win.
As a last note, being a total Star Wars fan, I would be doing my soul an injustice by not mentioning that Mark Hamill, as the voice of Chucky, was off the chain great. The bone-chilling theme song for Chucky dolls was spank, and I just thought he did a fabulous job. So, I will totally geek out at the end of my review and leave it with, may the force be with you.
The character development for all the main characters was really good for this kind of movie, at least. I suppose its a common trend, nowadays, to have a Goonie-ish /Stranger Things kinda vibe going on in movies with a group of kids, and this was on the verge of rocking that, slightly. There are kids. Kids are funny. You care about them. They are important. So I get it. Chucky certainly wanted to be Andy’s only friend, but that just isn’t reality you demented little doll. SMH. Therapy, right? The movie spent just enough time on the human characters to make the movie interesting and keep you invested, because y'all, that doll is freaky looking.
At first, I felt a little connected to that doll just a little bit. Like how could that be, you may ask? At first, Chucky seemed to appear to be a ripe little sponge, learning all the wonderful things in the world. He played real nice until those shi*head kids started watching a slasher movie, and it was all a barrel of blood and guts rolling downhill from there. Insert regular Chucky standard gory shenanigans, a heroic save at the end and the always required I’ll be back wink, and you got Child’s Play 2019 wrapped up in butcher paper and crimson bow. I liked it. Worth seeing on the big screen for sure. It’s a lot of fun, and I didn’t feel like I wasted my money. So win-win.
As a last note, being a total Star Wars fan, I would be doing my soul an injustice by not mentioning that Mark Hamill, as the voice of Chucky, was off the chain great. The bone-chilling theme song for Chucky dolls was spank, and I just thought he did a fabulous job. So, I will totally geek out at the end of my review and leave it with, may the force be with you.
Review by: SharonS
3 1/2 "wrapped face watermelons" Sheep
Y'all! I have a movie buddy! The review above is by TanyaC. Our daughters (both 18) are friends. There is a nice theater with $5 movies every Tuesday! So, you can expect Tuesday movie reviews from us and our daughters if we can trick them into coming.
Okay, Chucky...I never saw the originals. So I went in with no expectations. Tanya pretty much covered all things wrong with the movie. It would have been more believable if the doll had been demon-possessed. But it is what it is. The story was very predictable. Lots of jump scares and old school gore.
I did a lot of laughing at the pure silliness (and unbelievable ugliness of that doll). Is it worth a theater price? Meh. If this is your genre then probably. Otherwise, get a group of friends and have fun.
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