My mind was racing during this movie primarily because I felt like I was watching a children’s PBS TV series. The opening felt like Sesame Street, but much cheesier. In all sincerity, Buddy is unbearable. Trying to lure in nightmares? The theme and approach failed to execute. Lots of laughs, but only because the terror is so bad. While attempting to be scary, it was one of the worst movie experiences I’ve had in a long time. 

The plot of the film is a kid’s TV show focused on a character named Buddy (voiced by Keegan-Michael Key). He seemed a bit like an evil Big Bird, the lovable character from Sesame Street. Buddy, however,  is a dinosaur pal presented as a friendly icon in a 1999 TV series. He tries to inspire songs on topics such as cleaning up and dancing. He attempts to present positivity with kids. However, when kids decline, things go wrong. Buddy begins to do awful things to the children in the show. Soon all of this becomes a vivid nightmare that I struggled to sit through.

The whole film is silly and ridiculous. Buddy features a mom, Grace, played by Cristin Milioti. Her husband is Ben, played by Topher Grace. The mom begins to have dreams about Buddy that turn into nightmares. She feels like her home is surrounded by terror. She hires a psychic, but that does not seem to help. Then, she gets sucked into the TV and is in Buddy’s world. Grace is on a mission to save the children from Buddy. 

Buddy is so poorly written. It is almost like Winnie the Poohwanted to cover adult themes but got tired of writing. The context  is bad and the characters are too. Cartoon elements are thrown in  to qualify for an R rating, and it simply does not work. The blend of a kids-oriented setting with  adult-like subject matter does not hold up. Adding boisterous, rainbow elements made things even worse.. I could barely stand it.

Some viewers may embrace this form of terror, but I did not. A few slapstick scenes made me laugh, but the majority of the film wasn’t even thought-provoking. There were too many buffoons teleporting into a cartoon universe which then vacillates between good and evil. Overall, it evolves into awful moments that wasted my time and energy. But for the idea of the film, I give it one out of four stars.