Small Soldiers

Who would have thought? A "family film" that doesn't suck! Small Soldiers, while not perfect, is still great fun. It's success is completely down to Joe Dante, a guy with an obvious love of classic b-grade, sf, horror and exploitation movies. It's no suprise he started his career with Roger Corman. Small Soldiers is basically a variation on his previous Gremlins ( cute, seemingly harmless, kiddie-friendly objects run amok) but I enjoyed it more.

You can always tell how smart a movie is by its supporting cast, and the presence of the legendary Dick Miller ( a Dante mascot), Phil Hartman, Dennis Leary, and Mr Show's David Cross, not to mention the terrific voice talent, emphasize just how cluey Small Soldiers is. And any movie with Bride Of Frankenstein references gets my thumbs up!

I hope Dante brings Dick Miller back to the big screen SOON! We need him!

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.

Thanks to error, a toys store of Winslow Corners - a small and quiet town from Ohio- receives a shipments of war action figures. Former defense supplier Globotech and his chairman(Dennis Leary) and employees(David Cross, Jay Mohr)have transformed into dangerous soldiers toys to being mistakenly implanted with military intelligence chips.Commanded by Chip Hazard(voice of Tommy Lee Jones)take under siege the town and battle their rival toys , the Gorgonites, led by the pacific Archer(voice by Frank Langella). Meanwhile the Gorgonites join forces two adolescents Alan(Gregory Smith) and Christy(Kirsten Dunst). The commando Elite create wreak havoc into town and besiege the teen's house.

The film packs a combo of noisy action,thrills, spectacular images, and being quite entertaining. Nicely main cast and agreeable supporting cast with Kevin Dunn, Phil Hartman,Wendy Schaal,Robert Picardo and Dick Miller, a secondary actor usual of Roger Corman and Joe Dante, among others. The Commando Elite is attacking like the 'Dirty dozen' movie, in fact the voices are played by original casting, Ernest Borgnine,Jim Brown,George Kennedy and Clint Walker. Furthermore, an enjoyable homage to 'Patton' movie as on images as brilliant musical score by great Jerry Goldsmith. Colorful and evocative cinematography by Jamie Anderson. Special effects are top-notch, the puppets are well brought to life, they're made by David Andrews's computer generator and Stan Winston's animatronic. The motion picture is imaginatively directed by Joe Dante. Rating : Good and amusing.

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.

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.