![]() ![]() Whatever cautionary tale about technological dependence the movie may be advancing gets thrown out the window as Chucky begins his killing spree, setting out to eliminate anyone who dares to mistreat Andy or tries to be his friend (which means basically everyone). Or maybe it’s his obvious and thoroughly understandable dislike for Karen’s jerk boyfriend (David Lewis), who makes the mistake of bullying Chucky’s new best friend.įrom there, you can more or less guess how this “Child’s” plays out, at least up until a bonkers climax that brings at least two Stephen King classics to mind. Maybe it’s Chucky’s habit of materializing from out of nowhere or his fascination with sharp objects. The funniest, most queasily effective part of “Child’s Play” is the opening stretch in which Andy plays and bonds with his new friend, only to gradually realize that something’s amiss. He’s your little brother and Big Brother rolled into one.Īnd of course, he eventually kills and kills and kills, thanks to a fed-up Vietnamese sweatshop worker who thought it’d be a fun prank to tamper with this particular Buddi doll and remove some of his internal safeguards. He plays back audio clips of conversations you only thought were private. ![]() He speaks in the voice of Mark Hamill, who gives Chucky’s earnest, affectionate questions just the right dead-toned inflections (“Will you be my buuuuuu-ddy?”). He imitates behavior he witnesses in real life and on TV. Like a Cabbage Patch Kid reared by HAL 9000 and Alexa, Chucky can digitally manipulate any and all Kaslan electronics, from internet connections to Roomba-style vacuum cleaners. Chucky - an early birthday gift from Andy’s mom, Karen (Aubrey Plaza) - hails from Kaslan’s implausibly popular Buddi line, which means he comes equipped with his own handy smartphone app and can do a lot more than just walk, talk and open his big blue (sometimes red) eyes. Recasting the Chucky legend as an anti-technology satire is certainly a different if not exactly novel way into the material, updated here by Norwegian director Lars Klevberg and screenwriter Tyler Burton Smith.Īt the very least, the tech angle helps explain why an adolescent boy named Andy (Gabriel Bateman), who’s notably a few years older than his 1988 counterpart, would want to play with such a doll in the first place. Which is not to say that this “Child’s Play” is entirely without its brutish, haphazard pleasures. READ MORE: ‘Child’s Play’ reboot gives Chucky a killer high-tech twist » Fans of the real-deal Chucky movies, with their cheerfully low-rent effects and bawdy, impish humor, may well regard this slick new offering as a desecration masquerading as an upgrade. ![]() Several creative forces behind the original series, including writer-producer Don Mancini and actors Brad Dourif and Jennifer Tilly, have voiced their disapproval. There’s an unavoidable metaphor there, insofar as “Child’s Play” itself feels like something of a defective robot, though its many detractors have likened it to an example of brand betrayal. He’s something altogether more banal, a defective robot manufactured by a powerful tech company, Kaslan, whose sleek Apple-like gadgets have all but overtaken every household. Lars Klevberg has previously shared his interest in exploring the Buddi Bear concept, which would give a whole different twist to the Child’s Play franchise – and would be a good alternative to the Bride, if they are still unable to use her.Beneath all the nasty jolts and vicious bloodlettings in the new “Child’s Play” is almost enough material to furnish a mildly interesting episode of “Black Mirror.” A high-tech, ultra-gory reboot of the 1988 thriller that spawned a still-ongoing horror franchise, this new movie also turns on a creepy red-haired doll named Chucky, only this time he hasn’t been supernaturally possessed by the soul of a serial killer. ![]()
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