Child's play review

Child's Play Review: When it was first announced there would be a child's play reboot, I was worried instantly. So many reboots rely on lots of scenes from the originals and are often shot by shot remakes.

This remake however, though does has some reminiscence from the original, also has new ideas and creativity. It does suffer some character cliche setbacks such as the abusive stepfather and the overweight perverted Janitor but what overcomes it is the rest of the film.

First the cast is absolutely superb. Gabriel Bateman won our hearts in Lights Out and he is proving to be a rising star as Andy Barclay, a shy lonely troubled teen. Mark Hamill, who has had a successful career in voicing villains mainly in animated shows, is perfect as Chucky. You instantly know it's Hamill. The most surprising casting for me was Aubrey Plaza. I have always seen her as a comedy actress and wasn't sure if she could do horror. However I was happily proved wrong as she brought comedy and tension to her role and Gabriel and Aubrey have fantastic mother and son chemistry. You feel it from their first scenes together.

If I had to criticise anything, it would be Andy being suspected of the murders sounds good to bring back nostalgia and be faithful to the original version but it feels a bit shoehorned in and underdeveloped. But the biggest risk was the pacing. It does take it's time to get to the main plot but that's what made the film work.

The films developes the friendship between Andy and Chucky and at times it seems really sweet. They have fantastic chemistry as friends until Chucky does something silly like tormenting and killing the family cat and killing the abusive stepfather before cutting off his face and giving it to Andy as a present. It's always the little things isn't it?

The development of Chucky is also impressive because you start to see why chucky starts killing people. Being insulted, tortured and rejected does that to a person or in this case AI (Artificial intelligence) doll.

Child's play is a risky reboot that could have fallen flat but instead boosts a strong cast, tense scenes and lots of gory and sadistic scenes. That Janitor scene is still in my mind. 3/5 Stars