CHILD'S PLAY 2

Over the years, I've placed the killer doll Chucky as my 11th favorite movie villain from the "Child's Play" trilogy for his fun-loving killer personality, unique methods for killing, and scary design. However, in terms of reviewing the films, I've only had the chance to review the first film that I found to still-hold up well for having solid acting, great suspense, some memorable kills, and a fine balance of horror and comedy. Rather than reviewing all the sequels this October, I shall be focusing on Chucky's first two solo sequels from the "Child's Play Trilogy".

Two years after Andy's encounter with Chucky, the company responsible for making the doll somehow manage to get their hands on the original doll. It's never explained how they were able to take what would be considered evidence to a crime scene. I guess we're supposed to assume that the company bribed the authorities. The reason why they need the doll is to prove to their stockholders that there is nothing abnormal about it (after the series murders linked to their product) by rebuilding it. That makes even less sense than how they got the doll. How is reconstructing the doll going to prove anything, shouldn't they leave it the way it is? Recreating the doll is not going to help their case, if anything it seems like they're trying to bury the evidence, the exact opposite of what they're supposed to do. They were going to see if the voice box has been tampered with, but after the doll being burnt to a crisp and shot countless times the chances of the doll's voice box to be working would be highly unlikely. Never the less, according to the film, the tape somehow survives and they found nothing, unless if they count the blood and body parts that once connected to Chucky's heart. There is no one way they could miss those major details. I'm already 5 minutes in, and nothing makes sense in the slightest. The exposition is unnaturally rushed, their reasons are complete bull, and the businessmen act like the events happened a few months ago instead of two years. Moving right along, after Chucky is rebuilt, the soul of the Lake Shore strangler Charles Lee Ray (voiced by Brad Dourif) returns to the body after being given a new one (completely asinine, but whatever, we wouldn't have a sequel). Chucky then tracks down Andy (Alex Vincent) at a foster home after his Mother was sent to mental institution for claiming the doll was alive, who plans to transfer his soul into Andy's before he's stuck inside the doll for the rest of his life. As anyone would expect nobody believes Andy when he discovers that Chucky has returned, and Chucky kills people as a helpless Andy flees from him.

Apart from our leading villain, the only on-screen actor who returns from the first film is Alex Vincent as Andy who gives a much more confident performance. He was adorably sweet in the first film for how genuinely helplessly innocent he portrayed the character. But I'll admit that his acting while not awful by any means can be a little stilted, and awkward, inspite of his strong efforts. Vincent's acting in the sequel pulls it off stronger. As he manages to still act cute and innocent, how he portrays Andy dealing with the trauma he's going through comes across as believable. He does not go for full-blown drama when conveying Andy's emotions. Instead, he keeps the emotions mostly subtle. He achieves this by trying to conceal his fear and sadness inside him after everything that he went through, who seems like he's okay, but the signs that he isn't are always present for how quietly depressed he appears. While being emotionally upset, Andy does try hard to fight against it to prove to his Foster parents that he can overcome his fears. And when he and Chucky come face to face again, he of course is fearful toward him thus causing his relationship with his Foster family to get worse. Only rather than running, hiding, and looking helpless (even when carrying a weapon) from Chucky most of the time, he shows a strong hatred for him which motivates him to act braver he's ever been to end these nightmares once and for all.

Originally, Catherine Hicks and Chris Sarandon were going to reprise their roles as Andy's Mom and Detective Mike Norris, however their scenes were cut before filming began for budgetary reasons. This is disappointing because the film doesn't provide a proper farewell to these characters, after feeling such a close attachment to them in the first film. What we get instead of Andy saying goodbye to his Mom before taken away, or perhaps seeing Norris try to help Andy, is rushed exposition of their departure from the businessmen reconstructing the doll. You probably may have noticed that a ton of plot that could fill-up a good 20 minutes of the film has been scrapped to give us a quick summary just to get to Chucky killing people. I wouldn't mind it so much if the characters weren't anything special, except they are and the first film took it's time to get us pleasantly acquainted with them so we can fear for their lives when Chucky comes after them. During this incredibly sloppy writing about the restoration of the doll and the Mom being sent to away for psychiatric observation, we learn that Norris just simply decided to keep his mouth shut about the whole affair, which I find to be a big disservice to his character. Norris did suspect the boy to be crazy in the first film, but he was still protective towards Andy's Mom (even when finding her crazy too), showed remorse over seeing Andy being taken away, and wasn't the kind of person to easily give up in a life or death situation. The reasons of him not speaking about the incident is valid. It's just the fact that he doesn't do anything to try to help the Barkley's out after all of this, doesn't come across as something he would do after what they've been through together. And do you know what's more jarring about the sudden absence of these character, one of them was constantly on set. Catherine Hicks was married to the operator of the animatronic Chucky doll, who would stop by and visit him when she had the chance. The deal to not have her in the film may have already been done at that point, I'm just stating that if one of the stars from the first film is married to someone attached to the project, I don't see how hard it would've been to shoot a scene of her and Andy parting. They pretty much have her so why not use her?

For all my complaining about the film deciding to offensively sideline two important characters, giving Andy a new set of characters to interact with is a more sensible route. The people who rescued Andy know that he is telling the truth, which means there will be less tension since Andy has two people who believe him. Therefore, the choice of bringing a lone Andy to a new environment with people he never met before until now is a logical way of recreating the suspense of people questioning his sanity. Beyond that, there are plenty of memorable new characters such as Andy's foster parents (Jenny Agutter and Gerrit Graham) who contain opposite personalities. As well as the nasty teacher Miss Kettlewell (Beth Grant). But the best new character Andy meets during his second encounter with Chucky is his foster sister Kyle (Christine Elise McCarthy). With Hicks and Sarandon gone, Kyle serves as a combination of Andy's protectors. She maintains Hicks' Mother-like qualities while also having the same tough bravery as Sarandon's character. But while being a perfect mix of both characters that in some ways kind of makes up for these characters not being present, she still has her own traits, mainly revolving the typical rebellious teenager trope. Her connection with Andy does get predictable. She's mean to him, eventually takes a liking to him, grows suspicious about him, and then takes his side. It’s as paint-by numbers as it gets. On the other hand though, their connection is still as charming as it was between Andy and his Mother, and by comparison, it’s more fascinating. As bratty and tough Kyle seems, she still has a soft side. She sympathizes for little Andy's fear of being taken into a new foster home by understanding that he hasn't been moving from one family to another like she did. And when she notices that Andy is about to make a poor decision she quickly steers him in the right direction. From spending time with Andy she finds herself getting in touch with her feelings after spending so many years of repressing it from her anger. The writing for it may not be the greatest for how basic it is. Still the chemistry between Vincent and McCarthy is definitely felt thanks to their adoring performances as their scenes are given the right amount of attention where they don't come off as corny or forced to give the film some kind of sentiment through all the humor, scares, and gore.

As cute as their friendship is, Chucky is undoubtedly the main reason why this sequel deserves to be seen. Unlike in the first film where he poses as a lifeless doll for the first half, the film does not waste any time. We know who he is, how he behaves, and what he's capable of, making it incredibly pointless for a sequel to build-up to the reveal of the doll's true colors again. The film doesn't wait till we're a half hour in to show him killing and cursing on-screen, we see him take action after the first 15 minutes. Because that we are able to spend more time with Chucky on-screen, we are given the chance to get more of a feel for his personality than in the previous film. The first film felt more like an introduction to his character for how much backstory he's given. This film gets us antiquated with the Chucky that most people think of, which is using insane methods of killing people while cracking one-liners.The first film offered some of that too, only Chucky wasn't playing it as much for laughs as he does here. Here he seems to be enjoying every moment he has when taunting a victim, and laughing at their misery after making a joke. Nevertheless, while being sadistically playful with his mischief, he remains as a threat for how determined he sounds when going after Andy. Dourif is as lively as ever voicing this killer doll who doesn't feel restraint with going all out with the character's wise-cracking personality with a thirst for blood. Helping to convey Dourif's animated voice-work is the puppetry for the doll that is superior than the effects in the original. The effects in the original still hold-up well, its just when comparing the effects, the manipulation in the sequel is less noticeable. You don't get the sense that they're using different puppet heads to convey his expressions, or appears to be shot from the knee up to hide the puppeteers, or so much as being shot from a distance to hide his double. He looks like he's really moving on his own for how natural his movements are animated and shot that's attached to a face that's a little more expressive. His design is also more appealing for having light skin that make his bright blue eyes pop-out, and rotten teeth to remind us of the savage killer within this cute doll making him appear more menacing.

Just because the film doesn't decide to use the same strategy as the first film did with Chucky's on-screen appearance as a killer doll, doesn't mean we don't still get suspense from him acting like a lifeless doll. In order to get to Andy undetected by his foster parents, he poses as a Good Guy Doll named Tommy that the parents already had. Through this, he can find situations to get Andy in trouble by making him look insane so he can get to him. The tension involving Chucky waiting to strike without blowing his cover is as suspenseful as it was in the first film that is carried through suspenseful cinematography that plays with your expectations, a grim and playful score, and dramatic acting involving the people who confront Andy for his supposed crimes. The locations themselves help play large a factor of providing a foreboding sense of dread. Many of them are places that seem friendly like the house where Andy stays for example. It seems wholesome at daylight, yet seems eerie at night for its large collection of creepy antiques, old paint, and a basement as dark and dreary as the fruit cellar from "Evil Dead" (which the film contains a few shots and ideas that are reminiscent to "Evil Dead 2").

The suspense building-up to the deaths of Chucky's victims still bring a strong feeling of fear and paranoia, but most of the pay-offs are played more for laughs here than they were in the original. The deaths in the first film were silly for how over the top many of them were, still there was a grimness when capturing these demises that prevented them from being rib-tickling. The deaths in this film are a little bloodier, a tad bit more absurd, and Chucky gets to have some fun with his victims before killing them. The problem that the film has when handling these deaths is that since the film tries so hard to take its thrills and story as seriously as the first film did with it, seeing these deaths take a more cartoony direction combined with Chucky having more of an excessive personality doesn't mash-as well together as it did before. There's a sense that the film wants to go all out with its comedy, but are forced to tone it down to make it feel like the second half to the first film. This makes the overall experience feel a little awkward for the film not having the same balance of thrills and laughs then what was brought to audiences before. And nowhere in the film is that best expressed when we see people die. You'll get a few murders that feel similar to the style of them in the first film, such as Chucky suffocating a guy, or causing a person to break their neck that have a small touch of comedy to them. But then you'd see something ridiculous being played out with great exaggeration as Chucky beating someone to death with a ruler, or a random person getting stabbed in the eyes with fake eye balls. I'm not saying these scenes aren't entertaining to watch, they do their job pleasing enough for those who just want to see Chucky do his shtick that the film decides to take to new heights. It's just the inconsistent tone for how these scenes are played out can be a bit irritating.

Admittedly as highly suspenseful the film is with Chucky terrorizing Andy, when you stop and think about Chucky's plan, it's absolutely one of the most idiotic things that any horror villain can do when playing "Cat and mouse" with his or her prey. Chucky gained a new body and must switch his soul to Andy's since he's the first person he told his secret too before his soul is trapped in there forever. Ignoring the confusing logic of how restoring a dead body counts as having a new body that somehow summons a dead person's soul inside the body (I swear I remembered the film making more sense when I was a teenager), if Chucky has a "new body" why bother coming after Andy? I know he wants revenge on him, but he could have transferred his soul into another body and get him. He has the perfect opportunity to take over the body from one of the businessmen at the Toy Company. They're alone on a dark and empty parking-lot with no way for the man to escape, and yet Chucky kills him. This gets more puzzling when seeing that Chucky just clearly revealed his secret to him. His victim knows all the details about "the legend" involving Andy's Good Guy Doll including who possessed the doll. Now that Chucky just showed him that he is actually alive as he threatens his life, he has confirmed knowledge that the doll really is bewitched by the soul of the Lake Shore strangler. He pretty much killed the first person who knows about his secret, so how does Chucky expect to get out of the doll now? But let's say that the guy Chucky killed was someone not clever enough to put two and two together, or that there's some kind of nonsensical loop-hole in the spell that the only way Chucky can fully reveal his secret by telling the person his full name directly? When he does find Andy, he doesn't take as much action as you'd think. I get that he's trying to stay under the radar, but come on, he's a serial killer, killing is what he does best, and a strangler for that matter, one of the most stealthy kind of killers there is. With the right planning, he can silently kill all these people in the middle of the night without Andy knowing it. Some of the opportunities are practically given to him, and yet he remains as a lifeless doll because of one other person who is either in the room or is about to enter. Some can argue that Andy will simply run away as Chucky kills someone like in the first film, but there's one point in the film when Chucky does kill a person with Andy present and he still manages to capture him.

OVERALL THOUGHTS

The film is usually considered to be the best of the sequels, as some would argue it to be the best of the franchise. I will say it is the best sequel of the franchise if not thee best film. But I think it's a little overrated for two reason. The first is the writing for how lazy, mindless, and insulting it gets most of the time. And the other is the uneven tone for being too comical with its deaths and humor, and too serious with its emotions. But as stupid, goofy, and awkward the film can be, it's still quite the ride. Chucky's personality gets to shine more here than in the original. The deaths though I cannot say are nearly as good as the ones in the first film are still entertaining to watch. There are plenty of moments of genuine thrills presented in a chilling atmosphere through excellent film-making. The effects are an impressive update. And the relationship and dramas that Andy and Kyle go through bring a bond that's as strong as the relationships with the characters in the original. The absolute highlight of the film that makes the film worth seeing is the climax in the toy factory as a furious Chucky chases after Andy and Kyle. The sequence throws so many twists and turns at a pace that moves as fast as roller-coaster that it ends the film on the perfect note, making it the best climax in the whole franchise. As majorly massive as the flaws in the film are, we're still given a solid enough sequel that delivers well with its thrills and entertainment value tied to the most infamous killer doll in horror movie history.