What Are The Major Differences Between The Original And The New Child Play Movies?

The original 'Child's Play' was released back in 1988 and practically killed the popularity of dolls with kids of young age. The movie where a famous doll comes alive and starts on a murderous way is still something that makes people queasy about dolls.

The movie has had many sequels made but the success of the first movie and its cult following has never been replicated by any other Chucky film. This week, the remake of the original movie released next to Toy Story 4, talk about marketing stunts. One movie has a serial killer doll, the other has friendly dolls who come to life. A genius movie to release a movie so drastic to one another.

The remake of Child's Play comes out 30 years after the original.
SOURCE: Forbes

Over 30 years ago the original was released and now the remake makes its way to the theatre. The premise is the same, a young boy receives a doll from his mom called Chucky and then the doll goes on a murderous rampage. But how the story is conveyed in this one from the original movie is drastic, and there are certain narrative turns that set the movies apart from each other.

The way Chucky comes alive in the original movie is when a serial killer is cornered in a store and as a last resort, he transfers his consciousness into a doll using spells. Lighting strikes and the man dies, the doll comes alive and it starts murdering people the serial killer planned to murder in the first place. The cheesy origin of the doll from the original movie was left out from the remake and the new director went his separate way for the new Child's Play.

The new Chucky in the remake of Child's Play.
SOURCE: Dread Central

In the remake, the doll is an AI technology which goes horribly wrong. Chucky is a doll named "Buddi" made to sync up with the cloud but the safeguard in place to make Chucky a doll is all turned off by a disgruntled employee and Chucky comes alive with no safety nets.

The age of the boy Andy is also different in the two movies. The original has 'Andy' as a 7-year-old boy who desperately wants a "Good Guy" doll and his mother gets him a discounted one. 'Andy' cuddles the doll and sleeps with it and also the doll tells him what to do and where to go but that was changed in the remake.

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In the remake, the kid 'Andy' is a 13-year-old and he receives the doll on his birthday as a joke from his mother. In the original, we saw the movie from the perspective of the mom and the police officer but in the remake, the relationship between the doll and 'Andy' takes central stage. The bond between the two is the central point of the story and their close relationship is what makes the movies scary.

The motive for murder is also filmy at best in the original movie. Chucky wants to kill people because those were the people he was going to kill before he died. Chucky was set up as a bad guy from start to finish, he was a murderous criminal when the movie started and he turns into a doll and still, he is a murderous criminal who deserves to die. From start to finish you are asked to hate the doll and there is no amount of sympathy for the character. This is what was abandoned in the remake, Chucky kills because his safeguards are turned off by a human.

Watch: The trailer for Child's Play

Chucky's job is to bond with the owner of the doll and that is exactly what he does but because there are no safety nets for the AI doll, it does whatever it takes to love and be loved. The doll is not hateful, it is not the doll's fault that it is murdering people, the person who shuts off the safeguard in the doll is at fault and there is a certain amount of sympathy for Chucky. Everything is not black and white, there is a certain amount of grey involved in the remake which makes it drastically different than the original.

The original was intended to be a look at what would happen if the dolls we have in our home come alive and one of them is evil and starts killing people. This time though, the use of AI is considered as a villain, one person can manipulate the AI to do harmful things.

Mark Hamill voices the character of Chucky in Child's Play

In an era where slasher movies were the norm, Chucky took a different route and flipped the genre to have a doll kill people but we are far removed from those days. Now it is less about being a slasher and more about commentary on our society and the ever-growing use of AI. The original will always be one of a kind and the cult following for the original will only be helped along by this solid remake in the vein of a Black Mirror episode.

Child's Play is in theatres all around the world, so go have some nostalgic but revamped fun with this craftily remade horror flick.