A kid had to face the world in his own animated version and conquer life's biggest monster. ANI (The Harvest) It's as if a child's imagination is a safe haven, a place where the world is a playground for all the possibilities the mind could think of. And even the tight and humble space called home, situated on a busy Metro could not hinder the inquisitive headspace of a young Mithi (played by Zyren Dela Cruz), a boy who accomplishes the day by playing with his colorful toy robots that perform a vital role in his imaginary narrative. With a loving father and a mother that sings him a self-assuring lullaby, Mithi is blissfully unaware of the harsh reality. But life decided to toy with his fate, and Mithi's perfect little world is now showing its cracks, putting his vulnerability to the test and slowly depriving him of his happiness he thought would last forever. And through his eyes, the world suddenly transforms itself into a menacing monster. Set in a lush
"Child's Play" Movie Review - Bloody and Brutal Toy Story
A defective doll starts to become self-aware of his environment and learns new highly-advanced tricks, putting his owner's life and everything around him in grave danger.
When Chucky appeared on the first few minutes of this 2019 remake and I actually had the chance to look at him in motion, my initial thought was that the design looked abhorrently ugly in comparison to the 1988 original toy buddy. But as the story unfolds and so was Chucky's daunting creepiness, it finally hit me and I remembered why Chucky was a classic slasher villain.
Chucky, a possessed doll who murders people for his personal vendetta, well at least in the 1988 debut, has now found a new skin as a doll programmed with a highly technological AI that basically does every task as long as it's connected to any of the Kaslan smart devices. Think of it as a more advanced Alexa, except with a murder intent of course.
The premise is quite frankly not too farfetched and the movie effectively sold the idea of a doll going on a killing spree and Chucky was effectively portrayed as a demonic product of technology-gone-wrong.
While the movie started in a laughably bad taste, it gradually manages to pull it off and found its footing and became a more crazier, humorous and yet cheekily entertaining and wildly dumb thriller fiasco all in one film.
Mark Hamill, the man who has done a plethora of voice acting as well as other various character-centric acts is the new voice of Chucky and gave it a sound that doesn't feel like a mockery or a cheap imitation of Brad Dourif's equally menacing performance as the original voice actor but rather a respectful homage to him.
Gabriel Bateman - Child's Play - Photo from Nerdist
Gabriel Bateman who plays Alex Vincent's Andy Barclay from the original was channeling a bit of a Haley Joel Osment from the Sixth Sense and I thought has effectively captured a traumatized kid dealing with a dysfunctional family who happens to find a friend in a child's play murder machine.
Other characters in this film such as Aubrey Plaza and Bryan Tyree Henry among others were the obvious mechanical pawns, serving as a plot device to Chucky's murder mayhem and weren't as memorable as I thought they'd be.
There were a few moments in the film where I actually find myself grasping for air as the scenes become tight and the stakes and impending suspense builds up — a classic feat in horror / thriller films in which, as formulaic as it was, still works for the most part.
Overall, the movie has a lot of ridiculously stupid decision-making from its characters. Despite of that, I still find myself enjoying this re-imagining of Chucky.
Let's Be Reel
Flaws and all, Child's Play remake is half stupid, half entertaining that works in favor of the movie's context. I still don't think that this 2019 version is good enough to justify a franchise going forward, a la Annabelle, but was just enough to warrant an entire 2 hours of goofy good bad movie experience.
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