M3GAN

Director: Gerard Johnstone
Starring: Allison Williams, Violet McGraw, Ronny Chieng, Amie Donald, Jenna Davis, Brian Jordan Alvarez, Jen Van Epps, Stephane Garneau-Monten, Lori Dungey
Running Time: 102 min.
Rating: PG-13

★★★ (out of ★★★★)   

Over-the-top, creepy and hilarious, M3GAN doesn't hold back in expressing the dangers of having technology parent your kids. Of course, whenever we see a talking, lifelike doll in a horror movie our minds turn to Child's Play, and even if the comparison is understandable, there are attributes that cleverly differentiate this title character. Rather than relying on a supernatural origin story, the script focuses on  making a larger point, but not at the expense of taking itself too seriously or forgoing the fun. Director Gerard Johnstone knows he's making a satire and embraces it, while also realizing that details help. By showing us how this toy comes about, its manufacturing process and planned marketing tactics, the inevitable payoff carries more weight. It's more deliberate and restrained than you'd expect, eventually leading to what everyone came for.

Given its PG-13 rating, there isn't a lot to excite gore fans, but that's unnecessary when most of our satisfaction derives from watching the cracks in M3GAN's artificial intelligence start to show. It helps that the animatronic doll design, with its dead eyes, preppy attire and sarcastic jabs has a unique, bewildering presence. Everything about her is almost aggressively unnatural to the point of parody, yet remarkably realistic at the same time. You'd also see how kids would immediately gravitate toward it, impacting their social and emotional growth. This combined with an already traumatized child's need for companionship spells trouble, leading to an unapologetically absurd experience that also contains some real ideas.

When a young girl named Cady (Violet McGraw) is involved in a car accident that kills her parents, her aunt Gemma (Allison Williams), a roboticist at Seattle's Funki toy company, is contacted to take legal custody. A workaholic with little time to look after a child, Gemma's been using the company's resources to secretly develop M3GAN (Model 3 Generative Android), a human sized toy robot doll designed to provide companionship to children. After some initial flaws with the model prompts Gemma's irritable boss David (Ronny Chieng) to terminate the project, Cady's enthusiasm for the idea motivates her to complete the prototype. 

After a successful presentation where David's convinced of the toy's potential, M3GAN gets fast-tracked, while at home acting as both best friend and parent to Cady, providing the support Gemma couldn't muster. But when the doll starts operating independently and resorts to violence to protect Cady, Gemma suddenly has a more serious problem. In underestimating her niece's attachment to M3GAN, Gemma's plans to shelve it could carry disastrous consequences for a young girl who's already been dealt a tragic enough loss. 

The film does a great job showing just how unprepared Gemma is to be a mom, assuming the responsibility of taking her sister's child in, then doing little else. And when it comes to discussing the fatal accident that left Cady parentless, Gemma simply avoids it, throwing herself into work. It's impressive how Williams plays the role since on paper the character possesses traits that should make her irredeemable in viewers' eyes. But she allows us to take Gemma's actions in context, conveying fear and inexperience rather rather than maliciously harmful intent. If parenting really does require on the job training then there's still a long way to go. Though maybe not, since she's decided M3GAN can just do it instead. 

Young Violet McGraw is heartbreaking in a scene where an injured, emotionally fragile Cady becomes a pawn in an uncomfortable corporate demonstration to get the robot approved that crosses the line into child endangerment and exploitation. Cady emotionally unravels until M3GAN comes to the rescue, offering consolation as cheering executives see dollar signs. Unnerving to watch, the sequence best represents the unchecked ramifications from kids using advanced technology. Or more accurately, being used by it. As a result, we have the rare instance of a horror movie therapist who isn't a kook, but someone expressing legitimate psychiatric concerns about a child's welfare that deserve to be heard. 

Physically portrayed by child actress Amie Donald and voiced by Jenna Davis, M3GAN's entire look and demeanor might be biggest reason this all works, especially when you start noticing changes in her personality, facial expressions and speech the more territorial she becomes. What's scariest is how it uses tech that already exists, but ramps it up, imagining how such an endeavor would unfold without forethought and under the worst circumstances. The script feeds into our cynicism, as we don't doubt a toy company would try something similar provided they could make it work and turn a profit. 

M3GAN's worsening behavior doesn't suddenly mean she has a mind or human feelings of its own. That's the easy way out. Instead, it's implied her breakdown could almost entirely be attributed to design flaws, with the darkly humorous implication being that she just needs some more testing and adjustments. We don't know whether her murderous rampage is a reprogramming issue, but that she only targets perceived threats to Cady suggests this isn't unbridled, misdirected madness. They're probably saving that for the sequels. But in effectively shifting between incisive social commentary and campier moments like M3GAN dancing or singing Sia's Titanium, there's reason to believe Chucky finally has some competition.