“Look who’s stalking!” Synopsis: Chucky returns for revenge against Andy, the young boy who defeated him and who has since become a teenager.

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Calamity Brains:

While I’ll admit to a sentimental fondness for the Child’s Play/Chucky movies, I honestly liked Child’s Play 3. It didn’t quite have the creepy mysteriousness of the first Child’s Play, but held up better than the sillier second movie. It did, however, follow up the second movie with one of my preferred plot points in any franchise: consequences.

As in Child’s Play 2, we find Andy (Justin Whalin) still troubled by events from his past. Now aged sixteen, he’s been branded a troublemaker and is now facing military school instead of an endless string of foster homes. His mother is still in an institution following the events of the first movie. Naturally, the reappearance of Chucky (Brad Dourif) causes a variety of problems for him at his new home-away-from-home.

Though Chucky is more talkative this time around and definitely ups the one-liner quotient, the puppetry is a little better than in the second movie. The filmmakers also did a decent job of keeping the tension high, despite the inherently silly nature of the plot. Between Chucky’s murderous tendencies and the very real consequences for Andy acting out, there’s enough going on to keep the viewer engaged. Child’s Play 3 also includes a lot more shots that tease the viewer about Chucky’s location; we’re frequently aware of his presence before those around him, which adds to the suspense.

The franchise also keeps the “young child in danger” vibe going, though it’s not Andy this time. Instead, Chucky’s target is another boy at the military academy. Though I felt like the story involving the boy was pretty thin – for example, he looked too old to be excited by dolls, not to mention inconceivably clueless – the actor did a fine job. It was also nice to see Andy forced to confront his fears and step up to help another, just as he’d received help from others in the past.

There were a number of missed opportunities, story-wise, that I felt would have made Child’s Play 3 a much stronger movie – but in the end, you get what you get with a franchise about a serial killer trapped in a doll’s body. Still, I had fun all the way through, and enjoyed this entry in the Child’s Play/Chucky series.

Calamity Brains’ Rating: B-
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