Child’s Play Parent Guide

Karen Barclay (Aubrey Plaza) and her son Andy (Gabriel Bateman) have moved to Chicago, where Karen works at Zed-Mart to make ends meet. When a customer returns a broken “Buddi” doll, she takes it home for Andy as an early birthday present. What she doesn’t know is that in the Vietnamese factory where this toy was programmed, a disgruntled worker turned off all the safety features…and then jumped off the roof. At first, it seems that Buddi, who renamed himself Chucky, is just a little glitchy. But then the glitches start getting violent, and Andy learns that he is now associated with increasingly violent crimes.

The original Child’s Play, filmed in 1988, was fairly lighthearted as far as slasher flicks go, and this reboot steers further in the same direction. At times this feels more like a dark comedy than a horror movie, and while that isn’t a criticism on my part, you should bear that in mind if you’re looking for a truly terrifying film.

Frankly, I liked Child’s Play more than I thought I would – although that’s a pretty low bar to clear. First, Mark Hamill is a hugely talented voice actor, and while he’s a little limited in what he can do in this role, he makes every line count. Aubrey Plaza, as the terrified mother, and Brian Tyree Henry, who plays the police detective investigating the violent crimes, both punch up the movie with good comic timing and deadpan delivery.

Second, the movie plays to my innate paranoia concerning privacy in a digital age. Smart homes, Alexa, Siri, you name it and it makes me nervous. The idea of allowing a corporation to have a microphone constantly active in my home, no matter how much they promise they aren’t recording, is an invasion that makes me profoundly uncomfortable. The “Buddi” dolls in the film seem like a logical step in that direction - walking, talking cameras and microphones that monitors you constantly, awaiting orders.

The “R” rating from the MPAA ought to give you a good idea that Child’s Play isn’t going to be the best film for your ten-year-old’s birthday party. If that isn’t enough to dissuade you, I must point out that this film has some of the gooiest gore I’ve seen in a horror film for a while. Not a lot of slasher films get released anymore, and this one definitely hearkens back to the blood-soaked films of a bygone era. So if you’re not comfortable with a guy getting the top of his head ripped off by a rototiller, you should probably skip this movie. If the violence isn’t enough of a deterrent, you should know that the characters use profanity frequently: 55 profane or coarse phrases, including 17 sexual expletives are included in the dialogue.

Fans of the original film who are looking for more demonic possession and serial killers are going to be disappointed with the changes director Lars Klevberg has made to the premise of this reboot, but new audiences might have a better time with the fresh approach to the “evil doll” idea. That is, if and only if they’ve got a strong stomach for gore and a lax approach to swearing. Family audiences looking for a cheerier take on living toys are better off getting tickets for Toy Story 4, which also releases this week.