CHILD'S PLAY (2019) MOVIE NEWS & REVIEW

child's play (2019) movie

Genre              |   Horror Thriller

Classification   |   MA 15+

Running time   |   90 minutes

Released         |   20 June 2019

cast

Aubrey Plaza ... Karen Barclay
Gabriel Bateman ... Andy Barclay
Brian Tyree Henry ... Detective Mike Norris
​Tim Matheson ... Henry Kaslan

director

Lars Klevberg

writer

Don Mancini ... (based on characters created by)
 
Tyler Burton Smith ... (screenplay)

cinematographer

Brendan Uegama ... director of photography

music

Bear McCreary

film editor

Tom Elkins

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box office result

Worldwide               $​44,902,237

Australia                 $​1,085,523

North America        $​29,208,403

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the best dialogue

​Chucky: What's my name?
Andy Barclay: Han Solo.
Chucky: Did you say Chucky?
Andy Barclay: What? No. Not even close.
Chucky: Chucky.

Doreen: [to Chucky] You Hobbit motherfucker!

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CHILD'S PLAY (2019) MOVIE IMAGES

Images

Posters

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Posters

CHILD'S PLAY (2019) STORY SYNOPSIS

​​A single mother and her young son must fight for their lives when a sinister Buddi doll seems to take on a life of its own.

CHILD'S PLAY (2019) MOVIE REVIEW

Reviewed by Mark Geraghty   |   Review date 20 June 2019

Pop ​Movee Rating

The 2019 version of CHILD’S PLAY spins the murderous “Chucky” doll story in a manner that makes the premise infinitely more believable, delivering a movie that is far more measured and confident than any of the previous feature film efforts in a franchise that first enjoyed box office success back in the late 1980s.

The 1988 CHILD’S PLAY film required suspension of disbelief in the most far-fetched of fashions, requiring the viewer to belief that the incantation of a Haitian Vodou spell allowed Brad Dourif’s Charles Lee Ray to transfer his soul into the latest toy craze, a highly-animated “Good Guys” doll by the name of “Chucky”! What ensued was eighty odd minutes of Slasher genre goodness, creating a new “Hero” in the pantheon of unforgettable 1980s Horror movie icons such as Jason Vorhees, Freddy Krueger and  Pinhead.

The new film, from the outset, knows that audiences in 2019 will take a little more convincing than a magic spell to get into the spirit of things (unless it’s anything with the name J.K. Rowling attached)...

Writer Tyler Burton Smith taps into society’s desire to embrace smart device technology and the endless array of connected hardware and appliances that seem harmless enough, but - perhaps - represent the greatest invasion of privacy millions of people around the world have unwittingly invited into their homes with the likes of Siri, Alexa and Google Home.

Is it possible this technology could go too far?

Is it possible that a more “aware” (or, heaven forbid, sentient) form of this technology could, if it’s programming protocols were disengaged, represent a clear and present danger to humans?

This is what CHILD’S PLAY 2019 explores…

There’s a question mark about the need to use the CHILD’S PLAY intellectual property as the front for Smith’s story, but the in-built pop culture awareness of the deadly doll no doubt played a part in the decision to use Don Mancini’s original brainchild to help kickstart a new franchise for both fans of the original series as well as a new wave of potential Chucky worshippers.

Mr. Mancini, who has had several stabs at rejuvenating the franchise, has been none too pleased about this new endeavour, as he has had zero involvement. In a strange twist, MGM, the film’s original producer and distributor, sold the rights to the sequels to Universal Pictures, but retained the rights to the original. Despite Mancini being involved in previous sequels, the rights situation has allowed MGM (now United Artists Releasing), under the Orion Pictures banner, to produce and distribute a remake of the first film.

Besides the reinvention of Chucky’s origin, CHILD’S PLAY works reasonably well thanks to the film’s three main performers: Gabriel Bateman, Aubrey Plaza and Brian Tyree Henry.

Gabriel Bateman plays Andy Barclay, a young boy who comes into possession of a soon-to-be superseded version of Kaslan Industries “Buddi” doll. Andy lacks a strong male role model in his life, relying upon his Mum Karen (Aubrey Plaza) to be his rock. He’s also partially deaf and it hasn’t been easy for him to make friends. Given his circumstances, Andy is the perfect candidate for a “Buddi” doll; a computer-controlled animatronic toy that incorporates its owners personality into its own learning programmes...

What could go wrong when such a device is given to an emotionally-charged, confused adolescent who’s struggling to understand his place in the world and is resentful his Mother may be moving on with a new man in her life?

Aubrey Plaza delivers a likeable performance as Karen, a relatively young woman who had a kid when she was just a kid herself and is now working as hard as she can to make the best possible life for her and Andy. Karen is funny and self-aware, but her choice in men isn’t the best… Her new boyfriend Shane (David Lewis) is a massive douche bag and takes perverse pleasure is making life hell for Andy. Shane becomes the catalyst for Chucky’s haywire programming to manifest itself and enact all manner of violent kills upon unsuspecting victims.

Brian Tyree Henry plays Detective Mike Norris, who happens to live with his Mother Doreen (Carlease Burke) just down the hall from Andy and Karen. Mike is a good cop but struggles to reign in his Mother’s personality and, in an effort to diffuse her, invites Andy along to “help” Mike with his “problem”. Mike starts to look out for the kid and becomes increasingly concerned when the body count starts to stack up and the only logical suspect seems to be Andy!

Besides the three human stars, special mention must be made of Mark Hamill, who provides the voice of Chucky. In spite of his fame as Luke Skywalker in multiple STAR WARS movies, Hamill has carved out a considerable career as a voice artist. Of the 340 credits he has on his IMDB resume, the majority of Hamill’s resume since the mid-1990s has been voice-over work for animated TV shows. Besides his Luke Skywalker character, he is best known in pop culture circles for providing the voice of The Joker in multiple Batman series and computer games. His Chucky doesn’t have quite the same growling menace as Brad Dourif’s 1988 version, but Hamill doesn’t fail to deliver the necessary “crazy” to make the 2019 version convincing.

It would be remiss not to discuss the film’s  “Kill Count”...

Director Lars Klevberg makes a real effort to deliver “kills” that exploit the premise for all it’s worth. The idea that a toy is responsible for a string of murders is preposterous and even Chucky’s victims understand that being killed by him sees them take their last breath with equal measure of fatalism and frustration, as if their dying thought is, “Are you kidding me, I’ve been murdered by a two foot tall ginger-haired action figure!”

The two best “kills” are reserved for important supporting players…

One is entirely deserved; the other felt quite mean-spirited and there’s some loss of respect for the film’s makers in deciding to stoop to killing such a fun, nice character. That said, both “kills” are extremely inventive and created the desired effect upon the collective psychological pain threshold of the audience.

The story, performances and production value lift this new CHILD’S PLAY movie to a different level from the original series, however, there’s only so much that can be done with such a concept. Given the additional complication associated with the film’s rights, this may be one play date that struggles to find more time to play!

CHILD'S PLAY MOVIE (2019) USEFUL LINKS

Child's Play (2019 film) - Wikipedia
​Child's Play (2019) - IMDb
​Child's Play (2019) - Rotten Tomatoes​

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