Child's Play (2019) Movie Review or You Got a Friend in Me but not the Toy Story version

Hello guys and welcome back for another round of movie reviews with Movie Nerd, a place where you can be nerdy about movies and that's OK!

So, I believe that everyone knows of Chucky or has seen the Child's Play movies and is aware of the plot and the main story of, at least, the 1988 original. Well, you are in for a little treat with this because the story has been changed and updated for this time and it actually pretty damn good.

Before I get into it, a little synopsis for you: a contemporary re-imagining of the 1988 horror classic, Child's Play follows Karen (Aubrey Plaza), a single mother who gifts her son Andy (Gabriel Bateman) a Buddi doll, unaware of its more sinister nature.

Judging by the synopsis, if you do not count the contemporary re-imagining part, you would think that the plot is the same as the one from the original movie but, like I said, the story and premise has been updated for this time and it works pretty damn great. Integrating 21'st century technology in the mix and using Chucky as it's puppet master, pun intended, it gives the franchise a breath of fresh air and doing something that hasn't been done with this character. If you think about it, this can really happen in real life, with all this technology advancement that is going on right now, you can imagine that what happens in this movie may just happen in real life as well. A technologically advanced doll may malfunction and start to control all of your devices. In changing the premise, they have taken the supernatural bit of the original, when Chucky was possessed by that killer and replaced with something a bit more grounded to reality and I really appreciated that. Don't get me wrong, I very much enjoy all of the Chucky movies but this one offered something new.

The level of creepiness is on point in this movie, from the Buddi doll's design which is really upsetting and it looks a bit unnatural, actually to the sound designs and some good timely jump scares which some of them work but most of them are very predictable and cliched of course because you cannot have a horror movie without the genres cliches in it. With some few exceptions, of course.

The killings are very graphic, violent and gory, which you would expect from a Chucky movie, being part of the slasher genre after all. Also, you can't make a Child's Play movie PG-13 because it will take all the fun out of it so glad that they keeping it in the R rated department.

I very much enjoyed the humor in this movie, it does have that silly 80's humor vibe to it but I really enjoyed and most of it stuck the landing. I liked the first half of the movie, building the relation between Andy and Chucky, which was very nice to see and I was a wee bit surprised when Chucky actually showed sympathy towards Andy in the beginning. I appreciated the build up towards the nightmare that would follow in the second and third act of the movie. Another thing that I liked was that Chucky was playing a sort of psychological game with Andy, totally mind fucking him which elevated the level of creepiness.

Nice performances, the kid that plays Andy was great, very well acted and very believable in the role and listen, I love Aubrey Plaza, I saw, I have seen and will see everything with her and she was good in this movie but she is not suitable to be someone's mom. She looks to good and her past characters are very different from the one that she portrays in this one. Again, she does a fine job but the part of a mother does not suite for her. Plus, Mark Hamill as the voice of Chucky did not convinced 100%. Maybe because I am used to hear Brad Dourif in the voice role or maybe there is something else but it did not work for me all the way. I know that he did the Joker in the animated Batman series and he was great in that but I was not all the way convinced. Some time it works and some times it doesn't.

Talking about the 80's, the movie has a bit of a Stranger Things vibe, which does not go for long but it felt a bit out of place.

Overall, as a fan, I was pleased of this movie. I really enjoyed it, liked the humor, very much appreciated the updated premise. I had fun with it, I was entertained by it, it does become predictable but in a fun way. Man, a lot movies with toys coming to life this summer. Toy Story 4, Child's Play and Annabelle Comes Home. Soon, there will be no humans left. HA HA HA!!

Plus, the last 3 movies in this franchise were really good so I am hopping that, if they'll make another one, keep it just like this. Good and fresh! 7/10

OK guys, that is my review for this one. Because Spider Man: Far from Home is out this week, I will review all of the past Spider Man movies, beginning with the Sam Raimi trilogy, continuing with the Andrew Garfield versions and, of course, ending with Homecoming. Until then, take care, stay movie nerdy and keep on reviewing!