"Combined with the photo of an orange, axe-wielding unicorn that bears a pointed resemblance to a certain purple dinosaur, that might be all the description anyone needs, especially if you're aware that Kelly is best known as the creator of the creepy viral smash Too Many Cooks, which managed to generate bone-gnawing dread with a campy parody of classic sitcom credits."
"the world its forcibly cheery children inhabit is more strongly reminiscent of Pee-wee's Playhouse, with a talking couch serving as a jittery Greek chorus and a friendly mail carrier popping by to deliver party invitations. And while it digs deep into the eerie insularity of mediocre TV, Kelly's movie is also informed by the understanding that some of the best children's entertainment is driven by a powerful sense of the uncanny."
"Kelly takes his time letting us spot the first fractures in the world of It's Buddy, a garish, gratingly peppy pocket universe ruled by a fuzzy magical beast who towers over even the few grown-ups who appear on-screen. As voiced by Keegan-Michael Key, Buddy is a cuddly creature who just wants to spread love and teach life lessons, but there's a note of foreboding in one of the first morals we see him impart: "You gotta be scared to be brave.""
Buddy centers on a forcibly cheery children's-TV program whose fuzzy mascot imposes saccharine morals while masking darker ruptures in its artificial world. The show blends slapstick whimsy and uncanny dread, mixing influences like Pee-wee's Playhouse, Child's Play, and Mulholland Dr. A talking couch, a friendly mail carrier, and an orange, axe-wielding unicorn amplify the surreal tone. The titular creature, voiced by Keegan-Michael Key, dispenses earnest life lessons with an undercurrent of menace. The film tracks the slow unspooling of the show's façade as child characters confront the show's escalating fractures and ominous implications.
Read at Slate Magazine
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