
To prepare you for the new one, here’s my review of the original.
The new version of “Child’s Play” with Mark Hamill voicing the demon doll Chucky opens this Friday. So, I’ve decided to share with you my opinion on the original film from 1988 with Brad Douif’s iconic voice.
“Child’s Play” is entertaining when the doll comes to life and goes berserk, and when the characters come to terms with its cunning. There are cliches I strongly dislike, but they end up morphing into the evil doll plot.
The movie says Chucky was a serial killer named Charles Lee Ray (Dourif), who, after getting shot by Detective Mike Norris (Chris Sarandon), transfers his soul into the body of a “Good Guys” doll. Apparently, he’s some kind of voodoo nutcase, who chose to use his powers for evil. At least that’s what his mentor (Raymond Oliver) criticizes him for.
The story involves a little boy named Andy Barclay (Alex Vincent), whose single mom (Catherine Hick) finds him the Good Guys doll he’s been salvaging. Unfortunately, the murderer’s soul has taken control of the doll, and goes on a killing spree.
The aggravating cliche I’m referring to when the boy sees and knows what his doll is doing, no-one believes him. And I hate when his mom yells at him when he tries to explain his side of the story. But at least, things get better when she starts to believe him. And that goes for the main detective.
And when the boy is wrongfully placed in a mental hospital, because they think he’s the murderer, he tries to tell the doctor (Jack Colvin) Chucky is coming for him. Obviously, he doesn’t believe him. I always get headaches with that type of element, but at the very least, like “Terminator 2: Judgement Day,” the payoff makes up for it.
The acting from Sarandon, Hick, and Vincent is fine, especially when their characters fight against the doll, and take their chances. And Dourif is fun to listen to as Chucky, and his special effects are impressive. Sure it sometimes looks likes someone is moving the doll by hand, but when his face moves, and when he speaks, that’s impressive.
If you’re in a new generation, and you’re reading this review, don’t even think for a second that the Spider-Man Tom Holland directed this. It’s a completely different Tom Holland, the one who wrote and directed “Fright Night.” Again, just a disclaimer. He paints the movie and monster like a picture.
It’s fun, it’s entertaining, and it’s nostalgic, at least I’m looking at it from a 2019 perspective. After all, I wasn’t born in the 80s. At least, it’s fun to look back on.
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Looking forward to this new one, but I can almost guarantee it will put more emphasis on jump scares than the gradual doom exposition of a boy’s doll gone wrong. Less is more, I say. We’ll see…