Chucky 2.0’s new sympathetic back story could have come straight from the Pixar dream factory.Eric Milner/Courtesy of Elevation
- Child’s Play
- Directed by Lars Klevberg
- Written by Tyler Burton Smith
- Starring Aubrey Plaza, Brian Tyree Henry and Mark Hamill
- Classification 14A; 90 minutes
That 2019’s remount of Child’s Play is opening the same week as Toy Story 4 probably isn’t an accident – they’d actually make an excellent double bill. Doing away with the original franchise’s incarnation in which a serial killer, played by Brad Dourif, transfers his soul into the body of a Good Guys doll in order to carry out his evil ways, Chucky 2.0’s new sympathetic back story could have come straight from the Pixar dream factory. Like every classic toy, the franchise has been remodelled in hopes of customer satisfaction. Luckily, this smarter, funnier Child’s Play actually works.
In our modern update, Dourif has been replaced by Mark Hamill, who adds an eerie, Siri-like tenor to the character’s voicing. (Chucky creator Don Mancini is no longer involved in the 2019 reboot and has denounced the film with the social-media hashtag #NotMyChucky.) Director Lars Klevberg and screenwriter Tyler Burton Smith have created a more psychologically-layered narrative that doesn’t skimp on the bloodbaths, thanks to their greater investment in the film’s central mother-son relationship. So if your last memories of these movies involved Jennifer Tilly, severe gross-out humour and a doll-on-doll sex scene, you may be in for a surprise. Welcome to the softer side of Chucky.
As Andy's mom gets closer to her gross boyfriend, the young man starts to open up about the struggles in his life to Chucky.Eric Milner/Courtesy of Elevation
The plot this time around, which is a dark-humoured parable about the evils of technology, feels indebted to Black Mirror. In this new world, Chucky is the product of a huge media conglomerate called Kaslan and the Buddi doll is the flagship of their brand. It’s a best friend for children aged 5 to 12 who can do everything from curate a Spotify playlist to turning on your child’s night light. All you have to do is update your information to the cloud and Buddi will become your immediate best friend.
We first meet our pint-sized, red-haired, overall-clad anti-hero in a Vietnamese sweatshop where he’s being assembled by a distraught factory worker. After being horribly abused by his boss, the worker turns off some key information receptors in the Buddi doll’s wiring. Tragically, the doll is soon shipped off to America where it’s bought by an exhausted single mom (Aubrey Plaza doing Aubrey Plaza) who just wants to do something nice for her lonely, hard-of-hearing son Andy (Gabriel Bateman). Andy turns it on and the doll asks to be named Chucky.
While Chucky may be evil by nature, Burton Smith’s incisive screenplay makes sure to justify his eventual killing spree with an emotionally plausible character arc. (I can’t believe I’m writing that, but it’s true!) Initially creeped out by his malfunctioning toy whose eyes occasionally glow red with rage in the dark, Andy becomes more vulnerable with his new friend in a series of fun montages. They do have a lot of fun together as Andy starts to open up about the struggles in his life, especially as his mom gets closer with her gross boyfriend. As Andy confides in Chucky, he gains a sense of ownership over his playmate. But when the lonely Andy finally makes some age-appropriate friends, Chucky becomes jealous and possessive, destroying everything that gets in the way of their playtime, like the total Scorpio that he is.
When the lonely Andy finally makes some age-appropriate friends, Chucky becomes jealous and possessive.Courtesy of Elevation
Like Woody and Buzz’s motley crew of Toy Story misfits, Chucky is an adorable plaything who slowly becomes neglected by the one person who has promised to be his friend to the end. He now lives in the shadows of a darkened closet, his brain becoming warped by loneliness and misinformation, without the ability to ask for what he needs emotionally from another damaged person. So, the new Child’s Play asks, why not just stab everyone to death? Honestly, Hannibal Lecter had less character development.
Visually, Klevberg does solid work creating an eerie atmosphere, although an impressive animatronic Chucky does a lot of the heavy lifting here. With his jerky movements and garbled talk-box catchphrases, uploading everything you say and do to the cloud and replaying back the footage of his murders on any screen you walk past, Chucky 2.0 is like a demented Furby set to kill mode. The film features several well-directed gruesome horror set-pieces that trade in clever sight gags and a few brilliant callbacks. (The one that references Tupac is amazing.) And Brian Tyree Henry, who reprises Chris Sarandon’s original role as a cop investigating a mysterious murder spree, remains the most compelling reason to watch any form of media, sharing a few impactful scenes with Plaza that highlights their chemistry.
Brian Tyree Henry, right, plays a cop investigating a mysterious murder spree.Eric Milner/Courtesy of Elevation
Pixar once taught us how to empathize with everything from Mr. Potato Head to lamps, and the newest Chucky has only taken it further. Is a psychopathic doll scarier if you relate to his emotional baggage, or do smarter films actually make for lower box-office returns? While Child’s Play is definitely new-and-improved, I’m not sure if audiences are ready for layered, psychological Chucky. Perhaps he needs his own prestige cable series.
Child’s Play opens June 21.
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