Chucky's back with a 21st century technology upgrade, a homicidal streak, and a whole new
origin.
Here's a look at what goes down in 2019's Child's Play, and what it all means once the
closing credits roll.
And here's your warning: Spoilers are ahead.
The overarching villain of Child's Play is Kaslan Industries, the corporation that manufactures
the Buddi doll, as well as basically all the other electronics in the film's world.
A Vietnamese worker erases one Buddi doll's safety protocols right before assembling it,
essentially making it evil.
"Yup, here's your problem.
Someone set this thing to evil!"
The doll is then shipped to Zed-Mart, the big box store where Andy's mom, Karen, works.
Child's Play has a little something to say about smart electronics companies that promote
the idea of all of their products working together.
The Buddi dolls can control Kaslan-made televisions, bluetooth speakers, and electronic thermostats.
Most of Chucky's killings wouldn't be possible if his victims weren't surrounded by Kaslan
products.
When Chucky freaks out Andy in his apartment by speaking to him from different spots around
the living room, he can only do it because of all the Kaslan devices in the room.
And then there's also the Zed-Mart massacre at the end, when Chucky uses all of the store's
new Buddi 2 dolls as well as a fleet of drones as weapons.
When Gabriel Bateman's Andy reveals to his friends that Chucky's not following the rules,
Falyn warns that this is exactly how, quote, "every robot apocalypse movie starts."
Child's Play takes a lot of inspiration from those flicks.
When Andy explains to Chucky that he can't kill anyone or anything after the doll first
tries to kill the family cat, it sounds a lot like John Connor setting down the same
rule for his Terminator bodyguard in 1991's Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
"You just can't go around killing people!"
"Why?"
When Doreen's fatal trip in the driverless Kaslan Car starts going sideways, it's tough
not to remember Schwarzenegger's ride in the automated Johnny Cab in 1990's Total Recall.
And when Chucky sends a remote control toy police car to lead Andy to where his mother
Karen is held hostage, we hear actor Peter Weller's voice come out of the car with this
line from 1987's RoboCop:
"Dead or alive, you're coming with me!"
Early in the movie, Andy's mom tries to get him to spend more time with other kids.
"You said you were gonna try to make new friends."
Instead, Andy hides out in his apartment building's hallway, playing on his smartphone.
The isolation technology creates has more than just social consequences in the movie.
When Chucky kills Karen's boyfriend Shane, his twin daughters don't hear him fall from
the roof to the because they're lounging on their couch while wearing noise-canceling
headphones.
The most isolated character in the film, the janitor Gabe, replaces people with technology
by using hidden cameras to spy on tenants.
It's only when Andy's new friends Falyn, Pugg, and Omar put down their video games and believe
in Andy that they're able to save him from the Zed-Mart massacre.
Isolation even drives Chucky over the edge.
Unlike the doll from the original films, this Chucky isn't possessed by a serial killer.
He truly wants to be Andy's best friend, but he doesn't know how to do it without hurting
people.
Shortly after Andy becomes friends with Falyn and Pugg, they all watch 1986's The Texas
Chainsaw Massacre 2.
As the kids watch the carnage on the screen, Chucky notices how much they're laughing and
how happy it makes them.
Wanting to make Andy just as happy as the movie makes him, Chucky grabs a knife and
almost kills Pugg, instead slicing Andy's arm.
The doll is genuinely confused afterwards.
It turns the old Child's Play dynamic on its head.
In the original film, Chucky actually has the soul of a serial killer.
The Chucky of this new Child's Play isn't completely harmless to begin with, but he
isn't homicidal until children unwittingly teach it to be.
By the end of Child's Play, it seems clear Andy's not going to be a loner anymore.
Despite earlier differences, Falyn, Pugg, and Omar all rush to save him from the Zed-Mart
massacre.
Producers Seth Grahame-Smith and David Katzenberg also produced 2017's It and the upcoming It
Chapter Two, and seeing these four friends racing through Zed-Mart armed with mean-looking
weapons is reminiscent of those films.
The scene near the end in which the four kids destroy Chucky's body also brings to mind
other films, but it's one of the few scenes that won't make you think of sci-fi or horror
flicks.
Instead, you'll likely remember the employees murdering their hated printer in 1999's Office
Space.
During the Zed-Mart massacre, Detective Mike takes a drone to the chest that was meant
for Pugg, and he warns the boy to run before collapsing.
But later, when Chucky lunges at Andy, a recovered Mike blasts Chucky with his handgun.
When Mike and Karen first meet, there's some awkward flirtation.
At the end, they lay side by side on stretchers.
Karen reaches out to pat Mike's arm and gives him a thankful smile.
There's no guarantee that this will evolve into a romantic relationship, but it would
be a welcome change for everyone involved.
One noteworthy absence from Child's Play and possible threat to that budding romance is
Andy's father.
In the original film, it's clearly stated that he died.
"His real name is Charles Lee Ray, and he's been sent down from heaven by daddy to play
with me."
That's never spelled out in the 2019 version.
Shortly after Andy gets Chucky, he shows the doll his sketchbook and unintentionally comes
across a page where he keeps a picture of himself with his mom and dad.
He quickly closes the book, and it's the only mention of the father.
We don't know if he died, if he divorced Karen, or if he abandoned his family.
The fate of the father could be kept intentionally ambiguous because of plans for sequels. if
Mike and Karen do end up together, maybe the father will return to disrupt their bliss.
Not all the inspiration for the new Child's Play comes from the '80s and '90s.There's
possibly some Marvel Studios influence, too.
Or at least they use the same shorthand.
For example, Chucky is powered by a tube with a white-blue glow, reminiscent of the miniature
arc reactor in Tony Stark's chest in the Iron Man movies.
Chucky's shut down by a knife to the battery, just like Iron Man is taken out in Captain
America: Civil War with a shield strike to his arc reactor.
And there's the eyes.
A regular Buddi doll's eyes glow blue.
We know that Chucky's about to do something violent when they turn red.
When the Zed-Mart massacre begins, we know he's taken over all the new Buddi dolls because
their eyes turn red, too.
It's a visual cue that was also used in 2015's Avengers: Age of Ultron.
The eyes of benevolent robots are usually blue, but Ultron's glow red.
Chucky's mortality is only limited by his profitability.
If it makes financial sense, he'll be back.
And the movie paves the way for it.
After the Zed-Mart massacre, Kaslan CEO Henry Kaslan records a message absolving his company
of responsibility for what happened at Zed-Mart, but also stating that as a precaution, Kaslan
is recalling all of the new Buddi 2 dolls.
The original Buddis are still for sale, though, and we see one of these Buddi dolls being
shelved along with dozens of others.
Predictably, its eyes glow red before going dark again.
Chucky was connected to Kaslan's cloud network, so, as cathartic as it may have been, the
kids' destruction of Chucky's body probably didn't kill him.
Before he could be pounded into dust, Chucky sent himself into the cloud, and transferred
to another doll.
"Stupid technology!"
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