Anvilicious: Smart toys made by irresponsible toy companies who complacently leave security as an afterthought should be avoided until these companies straighten themselves up and commit to protecting their customers' privacy and safety.
Awesome Music: Say what you will about the film itself, but Bear McCreary plus toys equal a score that is just as creatively amazing as it is beautifully haunting:
Contested Sequel: In a surprising turn of events, the remake, in spite of the well-known beef between Don Mancini and the creators of the new film, scored solid reviews (63% on Rotten Tomatoes) from critics. However, other fans of the original series continue to ignore the 2019 film's existence. Whether you agree with their assessment generally depends on what you think the changes to the source material (namely, Chucky's origin and his relationship with Andy) - are they a good way to make the film stand on its own as a solid A.I. Is a Crapshoot horror film, or do they degrade it to the point of making it an In Name Only remake? Whether you think Don Mancini's disapproval of the project invalidates its right to exist will also play a major role in your assessment.
Fan reviews of the movie are more split, as the movie sits at 5.8/10 on IMDB, and 57% on Rotten Tomatoes respectively.
Hilarious in Hindsight: The heroine being a retail worker named Karen, in light of the meme in which that name became associated with Obnoxious Entitled Housewives who harass retail workers. While Karen was also a clerk in the original film, this one focuses on her interactions with terrible customers, whereas the original just showed her as overworked by a Bad Boss.
Jerkass Woobie: Unlike his original continuity version, this Chucky isn’t an utter bastard but a relatively innocent robot who genuinely wants to make his friend happy and is crushed to feel rejected, and what makes him crazy are the actions of a rogue programmer and thus completely beyond his control.
Narm: Chucky's "death" scene. Andy stabs him in the chest and he quietly sings the "You Are My Buddy" song as he fizzles out. Andy goes looking for Karen, turns around and then a very obviously CGI Chucky suddenly lunges at him, holding a knife with an angry facial expression that the doll hasn't really been shown to be capable of making. He even shouts: "You are my buddy, until the EEEENNNNND!" Because it's so out of character for this particular version of Chucky, it just comes off as more silly than scary.
Older Than They Think: While some fans are upset by the fact that Chucky isn't possessed, that idea actually isn't far off from the original script that Don Mancini wrote before reinventing it into the original movie. The original script was called Bloody Buddy, where synthetic blood was placed into the doll and Andy mixed his blood with Chucky's, making a blood brotherhood. This isn't too different from the new movie with Chucky being a rogue A.I. who developed murderous tendencies.
Questionable Casting: A number of critics have noted that Gabriel Bateman, who was 13 while shooting the movie, comes across as too old to be receiving a Buddi doll for a present. The film does address this - Karen gets Andy (his character) a defective one from her work after seeing a meme of Buddi on Andy's phone and assumes he likes it, not because he actually wants one. Andy even notes it's more a gift for a baby after unwrapping it.
So Okay, It's Average: Most agree that while the movie does try to be its own thing and has enough merits to warrant at least one watch, it would've have worked better if it was its own property entirely.
Tear Jerker: Chucky is surprisingly a lot more sympathetic during the first half of the film. Just when he starts to become attached to Andy and they become friends, he starts to feel lonely when Andy starts hanging out with Falyn and Pugg. Plus, after he accidentally attacks Andy with a knife, he's punished like a toddler after stealing a cookie, complete with a shot of him in Andy's bedroom, holding and petting a teddy bear, looking very sad. This version of Chucky is actually capable of feeling remorse for his actions until his complete downward spiral.
The decision to make Chucky a rogue A.I. rather than a possessed toy has drawn a lot of criticism for straying too far from the original premise.
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: There's a quite interesting aversion of A.I. Is a Crapshoot at the core of the film, as rather than being evil, Chucky is simply struggling to deal with the constantly changing and highly emotional desires of a teenage boy just as he's programmed to. Unfortunately, the need to make a film in the same style as the original rather than just writing an original script around this idea means it never gets to really take off to its full potential.
Win Back the Crowd: Despite some early backlash and the review embargo being very close to the release date (usually a bad sign as to the quality of the movie), the film managed to garner generally positive reviews with a 62% from critics on Rotten Tomatoes.
Also, the doll's design was heavily criticized at first. After the movie came out: a number of people were swayed by Chucky's actually endearing innocence and even perceived sadness during some scenes and particular interactions with Andy.
should be avoided until these companies straighten themselves up and commit to protecting their customers' privacy and safety.