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  • Mark Hamill Makes Child's Play Enjoyable [Review]

    chucky doll buddi

    For months the thought of seeing a Child's Play remake seemed pretty stupid considering the original series is still alive and kicking but as the movie drew closer, and they announced Hamill as the voice of Chucky, my interest became piqued.

    Child's Play sees the return of familiar names, Andy and Chucky, but for legal reasons that is about it. Gone is the Charles Lee Ray character and anything thing involving voodoo as is the Good Guy Doll. Instead we a treated to a Apple like company called Kaslan who has just launched the Buddi, a revolutionary high-tech doll primarily designed to be life-long companion to their owner. It learns from its surroundings and acting accordingly, Buddi can also connect to and operate other Kaslan products.

    That setup is what makes the movie work and the design of the doll make sense in this entry. Make no mistake the doll is very awkward looking, but it is a toy with a huge amount of tech inside it so its mannerisms and range of motion all fall inline with what you'd expect from something like this. The only problem with the setup thought is that the third act complete ignores these rules and see Chucky moving way more fluidly than he should.

    The movie doesn't just dive into Chucky being bad either because, frankly, he is not. Chucky is loyal to a fault to Andy and wants nothing more than keep him safe and happy. The problem being that he is very literal and if Andy says I wish you'd disappear then you are going to disappear. It's also not the dolls fault that he operates this way either, Andy and his friends showed him horror films without the preface that it was all pretend and actually cutting some with a chainsaw (they were watching TCM2) is only funny on film.

    Those scenarios are why Hamill shines as Chucky, he brings this child-like innocents to the doll that makes him unhateable. He explains is actions like an adorable five year old, that he was just having fun or wanted to protect Andy so that they could simply play uninterrupted.

    Having Chucky as an AI also sets the stage for some decent kills, but for some reason or another they pull back on the extreme visual side of it. The kills work and make sense but only two of the kills seem to go the bloody 80's style with it.

    The downside to the movie is that most of the cast is just okay. They do what they are there do but it seems almost phoned in. There are no scenes that makes you connect with Andy and his mother that would make you root for their survival. You like them, but you like Chucky more. The other is, again, the third act. The third act has a great scene that looks like something out of The Collector but it goes to a point where the doll functions in a way that it quite possibly couldn't according to the movies pre-established rules (range of motion of the doll and movement fluidity). Also for this part the CGI  is very heavy and looks subpar, it's okay but doesn't fit with the rest of the movie.

    With that said the movie is a fun little flick that walks a razors edge of good and bad, but Hamill manages to land the movie squarely on the good side. It may not be the best Chucky movie but it is better than at least three of the previous entries.

    Rating: 6.5/10 Stars

    Rich Stile @TheDevilsEyes1


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