Movie Review--Child's Play (2019)

"You're my best buddy.  I just want you to be happy."
--Chucky, Child's Play (2019)


After ironically releasing an unrelated movie called The Prodigy that borrows a key idea from the first Child's Play earlier this year, Orion Pictures has now released a reboot of the Child's Play series that is far more relevant to the modern world than the initial 1988 film.  The 2019 reboot is a smart update that improves upon the original, providing plenty of graphic kills that take definite advantage of the R rating, although the humor is very hit or miss.  There may be a lot of expected backlash considering that the original series is still ongoing, but this newer take on Chucky is able to stand on its own as a unique approach to a classic horror icon.


Production Values

Much of the effects work, including CGI and animatronics, is great, particularly with Chucky--and there are some great shots that contrast blue and red, the two alternating colors of his eyes.  Some of the best scenes feature Bear McCreary's fitting soundtrack, which was reportedly played on toy instruments, but the sound as a whole is stellar.  Of course, the central character succeeds or falls due to both audio and visual factors, and fans of the original have no reason for alarm.

The most important character in Child's Play, clearly, is Chucky himself, and Mark Hamill does an excellent job voicing him, delivering a vocal performance so superb that even fans of the original who despise the very thought of a reboot might easily be won over.  Combined, Hamill's efforts and the script have a synergistic effect that makes Chucky an antagonist who might even come across as sympathetic to some viewers--something that I have never heard of anyone saying about the original version of the character.

The acting on the parts of Aubrey Plaza and Gabriel Bateman is admirable despite falling in the shadow of Hamill's role.  Their relationship as characters is explored well, even though there is nothing particularly special about either character in terms of complexity.  Other than Chucky, none of the characters are very unique, and moviegoers have likely seen many similar characters throughout the years.

Even so, the performances are always enough to carry the story even through its weaker parts.  The middle of the movie contains the more generic scenes, some of which involve gratuitous comedy, though there is still an air of general competence around everything.  It is the beginning and the third act, rather, that stand out as having the best scenes.  The last 20 minutes showcase a spectacular set piece that leads to the defeat of Chucky.  The scale and plausibility of the finale easily exceed the comparatively cheesy ending of the original.


Story

Spoilers!

A worker in a Vietnamese factory affiliated with a company called Kaslan, seemingly minutes away from being forced back onto the streets, turns off the safety measures for the final Buddi doll he assembles as a form of retaliation against an abusive manager.  The doll is recognized as defective by a purchaser, who returns the item.  The shift worker who oversees the return takes the doll home as a birthday present for her son Andy.  Naming itself Chucky, Andy's new doll integrates with Kaslan products around the apartment, including a TV.  It becomes clear that Chucky has either been programmed abnormally or suffers from a glitch, but he still bonds with Andy, the latter adoring the relationship until Chucky starts displaying violent tendencies in an effort to protect Andy.


Intellectual Content

In a very appropriate move, the script changes the nature of Chucky: this incarnation of the character is not a serial killer's consciousness inhabiting an otherwise inanimate doll, but he is instead an artificial intelligence without its safety programming activated.  Child's Play addresses a concern some have about the increasingly prominent status of technology in the modern world while, at the same time, never treating technology as intrinsically negative.

Thankfully, no character complains about technology being inherently dangerous or destructive using slippery slope fallacies, and the film even touches upon issues like corporate profit being derived from exploitative working conditions in non-Western countries--something that is not brought up in many mainstream releases.  This isn't the first time the potential for AI-induced disaster has been portrayed onscreen (Terminator and Age of Ultron being notable examples), but it certainly isn't executed poorly.


Conclusion

The reboot of Child's Play deserves attention from fans of classic horror films like the original (even if it has not necessarily aged well) and fans of technological dystopia films alike, as it handles both its horror and cautionary elements well.  Some of the humor may not land, but the violence is grand and the story has been revised enough to be overtly distinct from the original's narrative.  Child's Play could easily become remembered as one of the best horror reboots thus far.


Content:
 1.  Violence:  Some of Chucky's kills are fairly brutal.  Though the worst violence always occurs offscreen, there are scenes with plenty of blood.
 2.  Profanity:  "Fucking" and "shit" are used throughout the movie, sometimes for comedic effect.
 3.  Sexuality:  In one scene, a voyeur watches a woman partially disrobe for a bath or shower without her consent and clearly shows sexual interest.