Child’s Play (2019) – Review

The mega-corp Kaslan believes that happiness is about more than entertainment. It’s about more: being known, understood, loved. Enter “Buddi.” He is a child-size doll and “toy” who can also interact with other Kaslan services and technological devices (à la smart tech). Basically, he is there as a best friend for life and help to the entire family, programmed with the best safeguards.

Other than one that is, which unfortunately is sabotaged by a spurned factory employee as he is fired in a foreign land. As safety protocols and all settings are uninhibited, this Buddi (Hammill) is shipped to the American retail shelves. As working single mother Karen Barclay (Plaza) looks for ways to get her child Andy (Bateman) his desired toy, she sets her sights on a defective product and brings it home.

The Child’s Play remake is a solid reimagining of the Chucky character which uses technology in scary ways to modernize the terror. A good cast helps enhance the movie, as the comedy and horror blend well due to fun performances. Voicework by Hamill is very creepy. Dark humor is welcome, and Child’s Play has some outright bonkers scenes and groan inducing chuckles.

To me the script was good enough and the sleek direction worked well for the tightly paced horror flick. The dark comedy edge pushes it into solid territory (“Why is there a fruit involved?!”). I do think the original 1988 version is pretty solid, but I did not see very many of the sequels, so maybe I was ready to enjoy a reimagining more than some of the original franchise fans.