Movie Review: Child’s Play (2019)

So, we finally got around to watching the 2019 version of Child’s Play, and let’s just say that it was underwhelming at best.

Written by Tyler Burton Smith who has almost no writing experience aside from a couple of short films and some video game credits, and directed by Lars Klevberg who has only three short film credits and one other actual film credit to his name, this version of Child’s Play is something you can safely avoid without missing anything of value. How they got the job to write and direct the return to the big screen of one of the most popular horror franchises is beyond us, but it doesn’t make any sense.

We have to give credit to the actors here. Mark Hamill stepped in and did a great job as the voice of Chucky. He wouldn’t have wanted to tarnish Chucky’s legacy and already does a brilliant job voicing a maniac as the Joker, so this was perfect for him. Aubrey Plaza was fantastic as usual in her role as Andy’s mother, and Gabriel Bateman was great as Andy. But the acting wasn’t the problem. The problem was that the writing and casting were bad. Aubrey was great, but not so much believable as a mom of a 14-year-old. This isn’t because of any fault of hers, but she is only 34 herself, and she looks like she is still in her mid-20s in this film. It just didn’t seem natural for a mother/son dynamic for this film. And Gabriel did a great job as Andy, but it just seems like he was just a bit too old for this role.

That brings us to the next issue which was Buddi. The doll had a couple of good kill scenes, but overall the doll itself was underwhelming. Using technology to carry out acts is a neat trick, but if not executed well, it doesn’t translate well to the screen. He also just seemed like he was written as just a depressed doll who was just attached to Andy instead of a doll with evil intentions. And this brings us right back to the writing. There just wasn’t enough attention paid to what was actually happening. It seemed like they just had a vision of what was supposed to happen and went for it. This hardly ever works.

The only thing that did work well in this film was the concept, but it was poorly executed. There were some ok kill scenes, but aside from a couple of ok kill scenes, Aubrey Plaza, and Mark Hamill, there is absolutely no reason to watch this. Just watch the original film. If you want more Chucky action, keep an eye out as well for the TV series coming soon with Brad Dourif as the voice of Chucky that is actually written and built in the original universe and done by Don Mancini.