Rather than a remake of the 1988 hit, Child’s Play (2019) is more a case of the Joker starring as Chucky.
Child’s Play (2019) Synopsis
A Vietnamese factory worker commits suicide after his supervisor fires him, but not before removing all fail-safes on the Kaslan Buddi doll he was working on. The defective doll then ends up with Andy, a 13-year-old hearing impaired teen living with his single mom. Though Andy initially found the doll creepy, he soon bonds with it, also accepting the doll’s self-given name of Chucky. As Chucky’s artificial intelligence drinks in more and more information from Andy’s troubled living environment, he becomes increasingly protective and possessive of his owner. When Andy is verbally abused by his mother’s boyfriend, the amoral doll decides to take matters into his own hands. His notion of happiness for the teen then begins a gory journey from which there is no turning back.
Snappy Review
While I had a swell time watching this last Saturday, it’s not lost upon me that this isn’t exactly a Child’s Play i.e. classic Chucky movie. It’s more accurate to say it’s a re-imagination inspired by the killer doll, rather than a reboot/remake of the 1988 hit.
Yes, everybody’s favourite pint-sized slasher is still the star. There’s also plenty of gore. But all things considered, especially the revised origin and the commentary on irresponsible technology, I think it’s fair to say this is more a Black Mirror-ish take on the classic Child’s Play story. Rather than an update of the original movie.
A Black Mirror-ish episode helmed by none other than the Voice of Joker too i.e. Mark Hamill. Now, this was a huge, huge kick for me. I’ve long been of the opinion that Mark’s greatest role is not Luke Skywalker but the Joker in the various animated series. That said, Mark did somewhat dived a wee bit too much into the Joker persona towards the end. Wicked fun as it was, the mass chaos in the climactic scene played too much like a Joker-Bruce showdown in Gotham.
It was, needless to say, still enjoyable, although I suspect hardcore fans of Chucky would be displeased.
Were you to consider the outcomes of previous 80s slasher remakes that ended up either too grim or too faithful, though, this is perhaps the correct direction to go for “slasher reboots.” Flawed as it might be. For the moment, I look forward to more movies from this new continuity. I also wonder how Tiffany would be if she gets to stage an appearance.
Read my other Snappy Movie Reviews.
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