Small Soldiers

I found this movie in my attic recently. When I was looking at the VHS, nostalgia instantly flew back into me. I remember the toys, I remember vividly playing the film on endles repeat, and I remember me and my friends playing our own version of "Small Soldiers" at our local park. Great memories...

I was SO baffled to see a 5.9 rating on IMDb. Why? This is a great family\action film. After seeing the rating and many negative reviews, I decided to watch it again on VHS. Maybe it just wasn't as good as I remembered. That's happened to me many times.

Well, I liked it then, and I liked it now! Still, it was a good film. What I liked the most was the music and the special effects. The musical score was outstanding and so was the "War" remix. The CGI in the film amazes me on so many levels...I thought they were real! The action is very good and the movie is never boring. It's definelty one of the coolest kids movie ever made!

Overall, if you like edgy family films, watch 'Small Solders'. I think you will enjoy it.

I had been aware of the gem, yes, gem, that is Small Soldiers ever since I was quite little. I had also always owned it, and had watched it on numerous occasions. Time went by without a watch for many, many years, as I lost interest in it for a awhile, and then later on, when I became more indulged in the film life, I saw it in my collection and decided it was time to freshen up on it. I popped it in and was ready to be overwhelmed with the memories of how great this film truly manages to hold up being over time.

I thought this movie was overall just a really great and enjoyable little film that even though it was just meant for entertainment, ended up being so lovable and cherished, much more than I thought I would love and cherish it. What was really that bad about it, folks? I have heard a lot of negativity directed at this film for being a weak Dreamworks animation with practically no depth or originality. Depth? Originality? You were honestly looking for those qualities with Small Soldiers? Maybe if you would lighten up on it, you'd enjoy it for the truly fun and enticing film it is. Some I bet were already even doubting it from the start, which that's no way to enter with a film as lighthearted and good-willed as Small Soldiers.

Most of the comedic antics were quite laughable, and that's laughable in the tasteful kind of way, especially the renovated Barbies and cowardliness of the Gorgonites. It completely entertains you, and it certainly keeps you interested through the whole movie with the fun characters and non-stop deliverance of toy warfare and excellent voice-overs. (I can't see anybody else voicing Chip Hazard better than Tommy Lee Jones now.) The fighting scenes were cool and amusing, and the script was pretty different and new, even though many think Dreamworks tries to silently and sneakily follow in the footsteps of previous Disney/Pixar films that are big hits, in this case, Toy Story.

I don't see why this movie has the rating it does, for I thought a lot more people would've liked it better than this, but I guess not everybody can spot a great film when they see one. If you haven't seen this movie yet, I completely recommend it, because it is a nice little movie that I am honored to own. It is getting too much harsh treatment. I had loads of fun watching it, always have, and I'm sure you will too, in the right mood. Plus, I love the usage of the song "Wannabe" at the right time in this film; forever a Spice Girl fan.

When missile technology is used to enhance toy action figures, the toys soon begin to take their battle programming too seriously.

On making the film, director Joe Dante recalled "Originally I was told to make an edgy picture for teenagers, but when the sponsor tie-ins came in the new mandate was to soften it up as a kiddie movie. Too late, as it turned out, and there are elements of both approaches in there. Just before release it was purged of a lot of action and explosions." There does seem to be some confusion on what the film was supposed to be or even what it is now. I avoided the film for years, thinking it was just a bunch of talking toys. Then director Jeff Burr (whom I admire) said to give it another chance, so I decided to give it a go and found it to be much more than just toys and actually a rather interesting and intelligent film.

And, to be fair, even if it was just the toys... the effects are pretty darn good. I don't know if it's animation or what, but it looks really good, far better than most other things of the time period (late 1990s).

When "Small Soldiers" came out, it was right after back-to-back school shootings (plus the murder of Phil Hartman), so there was some controversy about having a movie where toys get violent. But this movie is actually quite good. You see, it's not some ridiculous, rah-rah military movie; it sides with the Gorgonites (the soldiers' adversaries), showing how - whether or not they win or lose - they always remain supportive of each other.

As for the cast members, this is a Joe Dante movie, so Dick Miller and Robert Picardo get supporting roles. In this case, they play a delivery man and clean room technician, respectively. Phil Hartman is probably the funniest cast member, playing the ultimate suburban consumer (he wants to remove his neighbor's tree to make room for a satellite dish). All in all, this is definitely a movie worth seeing. As far as I remember, Joe Dante always does a good job.

I know the summary doesn't have anything to do with this comment, but I thought it would be funny to start this review. "Small Soldiers", believe it or not, it's more valuable that it appears to be. Yes, it may be a flawed movie, but considering that it is a movie born in the heart of Hollywood studios and intended for small audiences (and not so small), "Small Soldiers" takes his chances to create successfully a political satire, a very dark one.

Joe Dante (a very underrated director) is a specialist in filtrating that kind of political message. And that's no wonder why decided to direct this movie. The best of all is that also works as a family flick, where the characters are likable enough to care about and it's really entertaining.

Anyway, I really like it.