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The "Barney & Friends" heyday had passed by the time I had kids, but it was impossible not to be aware of the purple dinosaur. By the time I did have kids, Teletubbies were going strong. Of course, growing up, I loved "Sesame Street." It feels like kids' television has always featured big, huggable characters. Enter Carter Kelly and his new film, "Buddy." This time, the character still wants hugs, but if you question him in any way, that hug could turn deadly. The film gets lost in the weeds a bit in the back half, but an exceptional first act and a phenomenal voice performance by Keegan-Michael Key make this a fun and unsettling movie.
"It's Buddy!" is your typical 1990s kids show. Buddy (voiced by Keegan-Michael Key) has several kids on the show, and each episode, they learn a new lesson. When Freddy (Delaney Quinn) and Wade (Caleb Williams) realize that their friend Josh (Luke Speakman) isn't around anymore, they start to suspect that perhaps Buddy isn't the cuddly friend they've always thought. As more of her friends, including other characters on the show, start disappearing, Freddy goes searching for the Diamond City, hoping to find a way to safety.
Genuinely, if "Buddy" was a short film, not unlike Kelly's viral "Too Many Cooks" YouTube video, this would be an easy 5 stars. The opening section is flawless in its execution, with things starting to go off the rails once the kids set off for Diamond City. At that point, the film takes a jump as we follow Cristin Milioti, a mom who feels like she's missing one of her children and ends up getting sucked into the television show. It almost feels like a separate movie, and the two halves never quite sync up in a way that fully works.
Still, "Buddy" will keep you engaged, largely due to the performances and the way that the dread continues to build throughout. The kids have a surprisingly difficult task of both performing as players on a children's television show, with exaggerated reactions, and as real people who are afraid, with more honest responses to the horrors they are experiencing. They all do an admirable job, but Quinn is the standout in that regard.
There are also a number of really delightful voice performances. Patton Oswalt plays Strappy, a talking backpack, and he is present through much of the film, helping the kids try to escape Buddy. And Buddy manages to be terrifying through the voice work of Keegan-Michael Key and the physical performance of Sergey Zhuravsky. Together, they create something chilling as we wait for Buddy to strike again.
Topher Grace and Cristin Milioti are both good in their roles as the parents on the outside, unfortunately, that aspect of the film is just less successful. I appreciate what they bring to these characters, particularly Milioti, but it just never quite comes together in a narratively satisfying way. Every time we're not in the brightly lit world of "It's Buddy!" the film feels like it loses its footing. I think it's trying to communicate holding onto our kids when the screens feel like they're stealing them away, but it's so tonally jarring that it just doesn't quite click.
Even so, "Buddy" (now available on VOD) is a deeply unsettling movie. The bright, neon colors clash brilliantly with the dark story, and the performances hit the precise amount of creepy that you want from a children's show gone awry. Buddy might make you want to dig out those old VHS tapes from back in the day, but honestly, maybe we should just leave them in that box in the basement where they belong.
Rating: 3.5/5
Alise Chaffins is a freelance and Tomatometer-approved film critic.