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Reviewed by Chris Risdal, MoreHorror.com
I remember seeing Child’s Play 2 for the first time quite well. My Grandmother loved the ‘Child’s Play’ series and for some odd reason at the age of four, she let me watch them with her. Though it freaked me out royally for much of my childhood, as I grew older I began to love the little foul-mouthed red haired doll and would watch the movies at least once a year from then on.
What I’m trying to say from all this is: ‘Child’s Play’ is a much beloved series in my eyes and the first sequel ‘Child’s Play 2’ is a very enjoyable sequel, even if it doesn’t capture that same lightning in a bottle twice. Beginning shortly after the original film, the burned and scarred remains of Chucky (voiced once again by Oscar© winner Brad Dourif) are taken to the Good Guy doll factory and Chucky is rebuilt to prove to the company’s investor’s that there is nothing wrong with the doll.
Meanwhile, young Andy Barclay (Alex Vincent) has been taken to an orphanage while his mother recovers in a psych ward after what happened in the last film. Andy has seemingly gotten over what happened with Chucky and seems to be getting back on track when he comes to live with Joanne and Phil Simpson (Jenny Agutter and Gerrit Graham) and his foster sister Kyle (Christine Elise).
However, Andy’s world becomes a sinister one once again when the rebuilt Chucky returns to life, still seeking Andy to swap bodies with, while killing anyone who gets in his way along the way. ‘Child’s Play 2’ starts off very visually appealing with the opening credits playing over scenes of Chucky’s body being rebuilt, with a great opening score by series composer Graeme Revelle. It has an almost jack in the box tone to it or perhaps like the music you would hear at a carnival mixed with orchestra music and it works well for the film.
The cast does the usual type of performance you’d expect in a film such as this, but some stand out more than others. Alex Vincent does a much better job at playing Andy this time around and it’s a shame he wasn’t able to continue acting as I really enjoyed him. Christine Elise’s Kyle was also a very likeable character and I wish I could have seen that character go on to later sequels. The characters of the foster parents are a very high weak point of the film. I really liked Jenny Agutter in ‘American Werewolf in London’ and it’s a shame her character in ‘Child’s Play 2’ has nothing to really do. Gerrit Graham’s character is just a complete douchbag and you feel no sympathy for him when his time comes.
The main attraction here however, is Brad Dourif as Chucky, who returns to the role two years after the first film and he brings even more energy and much more anger to the role that I really miss in the later sequels. Chucky’s animatronics and puppetry are much better in this film than before and it gives Chucky more actions and more emotion than before.
Unfortunately, while I said Chucky is more of the star than in the previous film, that fact is what kills any form of suspense and tension that the first film had. When coming into ‘Child’s Play 2’, you already know that Chucky is responsible for the deaths of characters. There’s no doubt of this and it really robs the film of having any scares or tension which brings it down highly from the first one’s scale.
Another negative aspect of Chucky being center stage is that Andy and Kyle get downplayed much more than before and it drops character development in exchange for some quickly thought up characters for Chucky to kill off, but by now I guess I shouldn’t expect great character development from movies like this by now. Director John Lafia had a lot on his shoulders to make ‘Child’s Play 2’ a better film than the first, and while it’s far from it, I still enjoy ‘Child’s Play 2’ quite a bit. It’s probably my favorite sequel out of the bunch and it even with its flaws it has a lot of style and plenty of Chucky action to make for a good way to kill two hours. I recommend it highly.
