Director and co-screenwriter Casper Kelly takes an interesting, funny and horrific approach to ’80s/’90s children’s TV with Buddy, a competent blend of horror and satire that gets high marks for production design and performances.
Shit like Barney and Teletubbies always struck me as sort of evil. There seemed to be a nefarious purpose underneath all of that colorful laughter and songs. Heck, I still get nightmares from that fucking Baby Sun from the Teletubbies.
Anyway, Buddy is the dark, satiric twist on Barney that Danny DeVito and Robin Williams wished they had delivered with 2002’s failed Death to Smoochy.
Instead of a big purple dinosaur, Buddy is a furry orange unicorn voiced by Keegan-Michael Key. The movie starts off as an inescapable TV show in which Buddy goes from a fun-loving, serenading clown to a murderous psychopath, which puts a real damper on the party. The kids, well-played by the likes of Delaney Quinn (Freddy), Caleb Williams (Wade) and Madison Skyy Polan (Hannah), slowly realize that their happy TV show is a killing field for their deceptively evil host.
Much of the film takes place inside the world of the show, but there is an interlude in the “real world” where Grace, a depressed mother (Cristin Milioti), can’t help but think she’s supposed to have another child in her household. Kelly does a nice job of keeping both worlds authentic. The children’s show never gives up its strange vibe of Barney meets Pee-wee’s Playhouse meets A Nightmare on Elm Street.
There are some legitimately creepy moments to go with the consistent laughter. Topher Grace is good as Ben, Grace’s confused husband, while Patton Oswalt and Michael Shannon make memorable contributions to the voice cast as a tortured backpack and a Howdy-Doody-like marionette, respectively.
The ending leaves things open for a sequel, and that’s probably a good thing. It’s impressive that Casper kept his risky tone consistent for an entire film. It would be interesting to see if he can continue that vibe throughout another movie.
