Undoubtedly the lesser of the first four "Child's Play" movies, "Child's Play 3", which pulls off a little time skip to plant a now teenaged Andy Barclay (Justin Whalen) into a military academy where the revived Chucky (Brad Dourif) naturally tracks him down, is still a decent little slasher movie. Granted, it only gets to be that because of a couple of standout death scenes (hello trash compacter!) and a cool carnival-set finale, but we're talking early 90s slasher fare here. Justin Whalen is pretty wooden as Andy, outshined by Perrey Reeves as spunky final girl Kristen and Travis Fine as secondary antagonist Lieutenant Colonel Shelton, and although Brad Dourif excellently voices Chucky once again, the material he's given here is a downgrade from the previous year's "Child's Play 2." Mostly this is a military school teen drama that accommodates its killer doll aspects in fun, if occasionally awkward ways en route to that great finale where Chucky has a messy encounter with an industrial fan. Sure, it could have been a whole lot better with a stronger lead and a more accomplished director, but it does the basics of what a "Child's Play" movie ought to do, and just about earns a passing grade.
