Child's Play
Orion Pictures | Release Date: June 21, 2019 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
48
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 35 Critic Reviews
Positive:
11
Mixed:
18
Negative:
6
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
The Observer (UK)Simran HansJun 23, 2019
There are some gory moments (a man’s leg is sliced, the flesh falling off like meat from a rotisserie, and a sleazy character has a grisly encounter with a lawnmower), but the film extracts more laughs than genuine scares. Read full review
60
The TelegraphRobbie CollinJun 20, 2019
For those of us old enough to have been terrorised the first time round, it delivers a nasty-but-nice-enough childhood flashback. Read full review
60
TheWrapElizabeth WeitzmanJun 20, 2019
The movie’s biggest strength is its balance between mordant humor and psychological fear. Read full review
58
The Film StageJared MobarakJun 21, 2019
Child’s Play becomes a matter-of-fact A-to-B progression devoid of wiggle room where obstacles manifest as physical impediments to survival instead of narrative blockades to our understanding of what’s happening. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubCharles BramescoJun 20, 2019
As an enchanted talisman housing a depraved mind, Chucky was born one-of-a-kind. As nothing more than a glitching machine, he lacks the sniggling spirit that made him special. He’s been mass-produced. Read full review
58
IndieWireEric KohnJun 20, 2019
Child’s Play at once repudiates Mancini’s franchise by attempting to make it bigger and bolder while falling back on ingredients we’ve seen before, and seen better. While it sets out to skewer the algorithms that could destroy the world, the remake hews to a mechanical formula — and winds up a product of the same tendencies it’s trying to indict. Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyChristian HolubJun 20, 2019
By giving Chucky a reason to kill, the new movie’s arc can’t help but dilute his menace a bit. Read full review
50
UproxxVince ManciniJan 2, 2020
In a lot of ways, Child’s Play seems like a good idea that the people involved didn’t have either the time or the talent to execute properly. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)Angelica Jade BastienJun 21, 2019
Unfortunately, Child’s Play is undone by a lack of tension even its best performances can’t conjure, and a familiar story that only skips lightly along the surface of gnarly ideas. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineDerek SmithJun 20, 2019
By the end, it becomes what it initially parodies: a dime-a-dozen slasher film with a silly-looking doll as the villain. Read full review
50
We Got This CoveredMatt DonatoJun 20, 2019
Your enjoyment of Child's Play will depend on if "Chucky 2.0" is funny enough for your horror comedy tastes, because without investment in Kaslan's "Buddi," there's not much to appreciate beyond a few gnarly slasher deaths. Read full review
40
Rolling StonePeter TraversJun 21, 2019
The gore, which is plentiful, grows repetitive and dull. Read full review
40
Time OutJoshua RothkopfJun 20, 2019
Not helping matters is dead-eyed snark source Aubrey Plaza, somehow less expressive than the doll itself (creepily voiced by Mark Hamill). Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangJun 20, 2019
Fans of the real-deal Chucky movies, with their cheerfully low-rent effects and bawdy, impish humor, may well regard this slick new offering as a desecration masquerading as an upgrade. Which is not to say that this Child’s Play is entirely without its brutish, haphazard pleasures. Read full review
40
CNNBrian LowryJun 20, 2019
The problem is that those pulling Child's Play's strings don't consistently commit to anything other than the gore. Read full review
40
EmpireChris Hewitt (1)Jun 20, 2019
Making a killer-doll movie out of decent component parts should have been child’s play, but this misses the mark. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterKeith UhlichJun 20, 2019
Stem to stern, this 88-minute slasher runs like the clockwork bit of machinery it is, and that baseline competence effectively leeches it of personality. Read full review
40
VarietyPeter DebrugeJun 20, 2019
This is the new normal for horror movies: The screenplays have to seem hipper than the premise they represent, which puts “Child’s Play” in the weird position of pointing out and poking fun at all the ways it fails to make sense. Read full review
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