CHILD’S PLAY (2019) ***

I resisted seeing this remake of the 1988 horror classic in theaters (mostly because it didn’t stay very long).  I love everyone’s favorite foulmouthed killer doll, Chucky.  Heck, even the sloppy, uneven sequels are endearing to me.  It just seemed sacrilegious to reboot the franchise, especially given the fact that no one from the original was involved.  

I’m glad I waited a year or so to stream it in the comfort of my home because with lowered expectations, it turned out to be a lot of fun.  It’s just different enough from the original to justify its existence while still retaining the nasty edge that makes the series so great.  It’s consistently funny and has a cruel mean streak a mile wide.  Also, the gore that is just as over the top as some of the later sequels.  In short, it’s a legit Chucky flick. 

The bare bones of the original plot is the same.  A single mom (Aubrey Plaza) gets a talking doll for her son, Andy (Gabriel Bateman).  The big difference is that instead of being a riff on Cabbage Patch Kids mania, this Chucky is sort of a walking, talking Alexa.  This Child’s Play is less a parody on kiddie consumerism and more of a parable about inviting seemingly harmless technology into your home that will ultimately turn on you.  That means Chucky can synch himself up to the family’s devices and use the cloud to tap into everything from the house lights to the Roomba to driverless cars to drones to wreak havoc on his victims. 

Another interesting change is that it’s not voodoo that causes the doll to become malevolent, but a disgruntled employee who sabotages its wiring.  What separates this iteration of Chucky from the original series is that he’s not initially evil.  In fact, his main goal is to protect Andy from harm (or at least what he perceives to be harm.)  He only goes psycho once he’s spurned by Andy, who finds “real” friends.  In fact, you kind of feel bad for the little sucker, which is a compliment to the sharp writing and the stellar vocal performance by none other than Mark Hamill.  Hamill refuses to go over the top with the character and manages to imbue Chucky with a hint of sympathy.

Naturally, all that goes out the window once Chucky starts slicing and dicing.  I’m happy to say that the gore is often gnarly and some of the set pieces work better than you’d expect.  I had mixed feelings about director Lars Klevberg’s previous film, Polaroid, but there was enough there to suggest he had potential.  Child’s Play proves me right.  He gives the flick a sense of style that helps set it apart from the original franchise and injects a fun spirit that was more than appreciated by this horror fan.  (The nods to other horror and genre classics work very well.)  

While the film stops short of being a home run, it is consistently entertaining throughout and Klevberg delivers a killer finale.  As far as comparing the remake to the originals, I’d say this is probably the third or fourth best one, which is high praise coming from such a dyed in the wool Chucky fanatic.  I enjoyed this one so much that I am hopeful that both the original series and this new franchise can coexist peacefully.  I wouldn’t mind seeing new entries in both universes for years to come.