I’ll admit, I was pretty skeptical of this new Child’s Play remake. I’m always generally pretty skeptical of most remakes anyway, and while I’ve never thought that any of the Chucky movies are untouchable masterpieces, I just never really saw much point in remaking the first movie. It’s a solid, fun movie about a killer doll, and while it might be a product of its time, it still has a lot of charm to it. Plus, to be honest, the two most recent movies in the Chucky franchise have honestly been some of the best in the whole series, so I’ve kind of been wanting the main series to continue, rather than retreading old ground. While I’m not going to argue that this new Child’s Play movie is kind of unnecessary, I will say that I was pleasantly surprised by it. It’s definitely a huge departure for the series, but if you’re on board for a new take on the series, this Child’s Play remake delivers.

The thing that probably surprised me the most is how much they changed the story of this movie. The original Child’s Play was about a serial killer that puts his soul into a doll, and then tries to get back into a human body by going after the young boy that was given him as a toy, Andy. Traces of this story are present here, but it’s a lot different. The big change is that the voodoo aspects of the storyline are entirely gone. Chucky is no longer a human killer inside of a doll’s body. Now, he’s just a defective toy, which…kind of works a lot better honestly. Modernizing this movie inevitably meant making technology more prevalent, and that’s the focus here. The Buddi doll toy line are now these “smart” dolls, so to speak. That is, they’re basically robots that learn from their masters in the goal of being their best friend. When Andy (who is a teenager in this movie instead of a little kid) gets his Chucky doll, he finds that he’s a lot different than the normal dolls. Chucky seems to pick up on things differently, and we soon see him show signs of violent behavior when something prompts him. The other big change here then comes with the relationship between Andy and Chucky. Where Chucky was going after Andy as his primary target in the original Child’s Play, now Chucky is instead trying to be his protector. Anytime Chucky senses someone wants to harm Andy, or come in the way of their friendship, he tries to kill them. It’s a really different and interesting take on the story.

I just really liked how Child’s Play managed to set itself apart from the movie it’s based off of. The big changes definitely make it feel fresh, but even some of the more subtle changes, such as Andy being older and his mom being younger, make a big difference. I thought this was just going to feel like a dumb cash-grab, but honestly it feels like the people behind this movie were trying to make a modern retelling of the story. Along these lines, I was nervous about Brad Dourif not playing Chucky in this movie, since he’s defined the role since the first movie. However, if you’re going to pick a worthy replacement, you might as well go with someone as awesome as Mark Hamill, and he delivers here. I was still worried about Chucky not feeling right with a different voice, but honestly it works so well here. I think the reason for this is that the movie feels so detached from the rest of the series, and so it would actually feel out of place to have Brad Dourif still play Chucky, since the role is so different here. This isn’t the same Chucky as we’ve seen in the rest of the franchise, and while I do still want to see the main series continue, this worked as an alternate take.

The other thing I briefly want to mention are the kills. Some of the earliest kills don’t always seem like they’re going to be that fresh, but for me each one felt better than the last (for the most part). Since the Chucky doll is so much more technology-based in this movie, the filmmakers naturally went for the decision to have a lot of the kills in this one utilize technology. I don’t want to spoil some of the best ones, but I just want to say that Chucky is able to tap into the technology around him and control it for his own use. This lends to some really creative kills, so that was interesting.

I said earlier that I’ve never thought any of the Chucky movies were masterpieces, and that remains true here with this remake. However, the big surprise here is that I never thought I could like a remake of Child’s Play as much as I did the original movie, and yet here we are. I put this Child’s Play remake right up there with my favorite movies in the Chucky series (the original Child’s Play, Curse of Chucky, and Cult of Chucky). If you’re a fan of the franchise, I actually recommend trying this one out. It was much better than I was expecting, so I think it’s worth it if only to see a different take on the series.

4/5