Child's Play (2019) - What a Reboot Should Be

The Child's Play reboot was considered a flop, probably because it did something different with the idea and horror fans like reboots to be basically the same, but with better effects.

I, however, thought it was great. It seemed a sensible idea to do away with the voodoo aspect of the franchise - awkward both to have a white man practising it but also because the magic words were "give me the power, I beg of you." (I know this is a franchise about a possessed doll, but that's just a little too goofy.) It took the same premise, and decided to modernise it into something that's a lot more everyday - the fact that every bit of technology has to connect to every thing.

This Chucky (voiced by Mark Hamill) is a Buddi doll, which connects to TVs, speakers, lights and cars. Sound familiar? Sounds like Amazon Alexa. Or Google home. Replacing Kazlan with either of those names creates a very on the nose look on the folly of relying on too much tech - on connecting everything to one account so that evil dolls could instantly take advantage of it all.

And our Chucky does. His kill count is definitely lower than the originals, but the film takes its time to make them as gruesome and painful as possible. Just when you think there couldn't be more - there is. They're all unique and all enough to have you turn away from the screen. The line, “This is the end,” was even kept, to my great delight (even if ‘friend’ was cut from the end of it), in the chaotic climax of the movie. If it was holding back on the kills, Chucky’s final plan delivers on the violence and killer toys by the dozen.

So if it wasn't the kills turning Child's Play fans. Maybe it was the humour. The Child’s Play franchise has always merged gruesome death with black comedy. However, it feels as though the humour from the original series came mostly from ‘it’s a doll who does bad things,’ and the remake doesn’t hesitate to poke its tongue into its cheek at that. As soon as the kids find out the doll can swear, it’s the funniest thing to them, in a similar way to how the original Chucky’s whole personality seemed to be foul language. It does become a ‘cover up’ comedy at one point, that at least adds something new to the whole series.

And it could be the fact that the movie spends a lot of time developing Andy (Gabriel Bateman) and Chucky's relationship - something you can do when the doll is a talking robot and not a doll who's not alive. (Not until the reveal, anyway.) Because this Chucky's not a murderer who just happens to have dabbled in voodoo, we see him befriend Andy, until he becomes obsessive and overly protective. It focuses on a socially awkward boy finding companionship with a machine literally designed to do just that – like The Iron Giant, just – opposite. This puts us in Andy’s shoes, and gives us, however slight, mixed feelings about Chucky turning to the dark side; as well as giving the finale more emotional weight. (Even if we have to sit through two fake outs of Chucky ‘dying,’ which is still more bearable than the amount from the original.)

It’s unfair to compare original Andy and the one Alex Vincent plays. They’re essentially completely different characters. The age difference means our new lead can have more emotional complexity and have more agency in the story. Where we’re in his head more, Bateman’s Andy really only served (in the first one, at least), to make the audience doubt whether the doll was really alive, or not. The tension of the original Child’s Play actually hung on that and the reveal was what, arguably, revitalised the killer doll trend. This Andy’s a lot less bright eyed, and a lot more ready for action, whilst still being handed plenty of emotional scenes – which is significant to note, because its okay for boys to cry.

That being said, this version was clearly trying to ride of the coat tails of It (2017) in giving us a motley crew of social outcasts, including Fallin (Beatrice Kitsos) and Pug (Ty Consiglio). Whilst it does feel slightly shoe horned in, it does give Andy someone other than his mother to talk to, and add to Chucky’s possessive behaviour. The line “I’m sticking with her,” and what comes before it felt like it captured the ‘girl power’ of an eighties/nineties film in a way that It didn’t quite get. (In that, It was earnest in its attempts, and this was more of a joke – but a nostalgic feeling joke all the same.)

Another minor thing of note was the subversion of expectations. The camera focuses on the janitor in the hall of Andy’s apartment, painting him as a nice guy rebuffed by Andy’s mum. My first thought was that he’d swoop in to save the day and turn her opinion of him on its head, so it was refreshing to see that he was decidedly a creep, and that Karen was in the right, all along. Speaking off, Aubrey Plaza is great in the role and seems to have genuine chemistry with Bateman as a young mum. It’s cool that she gets her own moment in the climax and it would’ve been great to see her in any sequels to this version. Brian Tree Henry as the cop down the hall also plays his part well.

Overall, Child’s Play (2018) updates the idea of a killer doll in a modern and interesting way, giving a better origin story than the original and delivering on both gore and plot. I can’t understand why it was so automatically hated for daring to do anything different with the plot, especially when the acting was solid and the effects good.

Besides, who wouldn’t want to listen to Mark Hamil sing them a lullaby about how you’re the best of friends?

Maybe I’ll check into the new series, but so far it looks like a re-tread of what we've already seen.