Evil Toy Story

One of the most enduring horror franchises which somehow managed to sneak under the radar of most horror junkies is ‘Child’s Play,’ centered on a “cute and cuddly” freckled red-haired boy doll that’s the embodiment of pure evil and murderous mayhem.  Since first appearing in 1988, Chucky has terrorized and – intentionally or not – made audiences laugh in equal measure over the course of six follow-on installments, though admittedly most of them were low-rent straight-to-DVD releases.

 

Though I’m not a big Chucky fan, I thought I’d give the new reboot/remake of ‘Child’s Play’ a look anyway to see what new spin or wrinkle the best-and-brightest of Hollywood can put on it, and also because I would watch almost anything with Aubrey Plaza in it for some unfathomable reason.  ‘Child’s Play 2019’ contemporizes Chucky by modernizing the doll with high tech computer chip and AI in our era of “Alexa” and “Siri.” Chucky isn’t supernaturally possessed by the spirit of a condemned executed serial killer this time.  Instead, his non-human harming safeguards (the “I, Robot” rules) were turned off by a disgruntled Vietnamese “sweat shop” employee who snapped and killed himself because he couldn’t put up with his overbearing asshole of a boss anymore.

 

Alas, ‘Chucky 2019’ lacked the novelty and bite of the original 1988 film.  It is perhaps only inevitable after seven films (each one more of a self-parody than the one before) which put Chucky in all sorts of situations including taking on a wife that we’re bound to see diminishing returns, and I’ve seen Chucky ply his homicidal trade with a kitchen knife too many times to count. 

Grade: C