The third film in the Child’s Play franchise followed very quickly on the heels of the second film, something screenwriter Don Mancini wasn’t happy about. He’d barely finished writing two when he had to dive into creating the third. And he says the third film is his least favourite because of it.

The narrative leaps forward eight years, little Andy (Justin Whalin) is a teenager now. After having been shuffled from foster home to foster home he know finds himself in Kent Military School. He’s being bullied by Shelton (Travis Fine), may have a chance with De Silva (Perry Reeves), and is trying to just get by.

Unfortunately, not only are the Good Guy dolls being relaunched, Chucky (voiced by Brad Dourif) has been melted down, and reconstituted, resurrecting the serial killer in a whole new body. First, he thinks the best plan is to hunt down Andy and transfer his soul into a human body.

But once he arrives and ends up in the hands of young Tyler (Jeremy Sylvers), Chucky realizes he can use this young boy instead.

Can Andy save the young boy before things go badly? No, they’ll go badly first. There are some kills, and there is definitely a sense of humor about things, Chucky does have a fun attitude. Oh, and Andrew Robinson is absolutely delightful in this film!

But the film takes a troubling turn. A training exercise is the scene of the beginning of the deadly climax, as Andy and De Silva work to save Tyler from Chucky, guns start going off. They’re supposed to be relatively safe, loaded with paintballs. But Chucky has replaced some of the paint with live ammunition. Kids are going to get shot.

From there they move to a literal hellscape as Andy and De Silva chase Chucky and Tyler to a haunted house ride at a nearby carnival.

All three films so far have been 90 minutes or shorter. Things race along, there isn’t a lot of character development, and we race from moment to moment with Chucky. And that’s too bad. I would have liked a little bit more character development for Andy. He’s been through a lot.

The films are fun and entertaining, with the puppeteering and animatronics for Chucky being exceptional. There’s some great work here, and you can actually believe that there’s a real personality there, and that it’s not a collection of dolls, but one.

That being said, there are some lapses in narrative intelligence, and that keeps the film at a B-level monster movie. But that’s fine. It is what it is.

I’m looking forward to continuing my way through the series, and enjoying where Mancini takes it. I remember greatly enjoying Bride of Chucky and Seed of Chucky, so I’m looking forward to revisiting them.

I’m loving digging into this series.