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Fantasy movies can be difficult to get right, as the importance of visual effects and the right cast can make or break a film. There are some cases when a fantasy film might have been better received if it was released later, as technology moves quickly, making the cinematic landscape completely different after just ten years. Additionally, the tastes and interests of audiences shift just as fast, meaning the trends of what's popular and does well at the box office could be considerably different a decade after a movie initially failed to connect with viewers.

There are plenty of fantasy movies that bombed at the box office but had comebacks many years later, thanks to critical and audience reappraisal. When the bones of a story are good, which typically happens when a film is based on a book series, there's potential for a movie to find its audience later, when...

Hulu has unveiled its complete list of movies and TV shows set to join its lineup throughout August, including the underrated dragon film Eragon, starting on August 1. Despite mixed critical reception and a lukewarm box office performance upon its 2006 release, Eragon has cultivated a loyal fan base over the years. The film continues to hold a special place in many viewers' hearts.

Eragon is a 2006 fantasy adventure film directed by Stefen Fangmeier and written by Peter Buchman, loosely based on Christopher Paolini's 2002 novel of the same name. The film stars Ed Speleers in the title role, alongside Jeremy Irons, Sienna Guillory, Robert Carlyle, Djimon Hounsou, Garrett Hedlund, Joss Stone, and John Malkovich. Rachel Weisz provides the voice of Saphira the dragon. Eragon earned around $75 million in the United States and $173.9 million internationally, totaling $249 million in worldwide box office revenue. However, due to its box office performance and less favorable reviews,...

The writer of Jurassic Park. The director of Speed. The star of Mad About You. The quaint Clinton-era notion that a major action blockbuster could be produced with, as the major antagonist, an atmospheric condition and not swarthy terrorists from the Middle East or France. Twister is so 1990s it hurts, but the pain isn’t as exquisite as revisiting a movie you once, for any number of pubescent reasons, loved as a child and now realize is a whirling roar of detritus.

When Twister came out, the traditional ’80s model blockbuster appeared to be on its last legs. Films like John McTiernan’s The Last Action Hero and Kevin Reynolds’s Waterworld made the idea of a central masculine anchor, be he mountainously monolithic or sensitively willowy, seem as ruinous as letting a young Turk hotshot direct your studio’s big epic did in the early ’80s during the...

What is mankind without science? The thought-provoking question is one of the themes in “3 Body Problem,” an eight-episode Netflix series from “Game of Thrones” creators D.B. Weiss and David Benioff and “True Blood” scribe Alexander Woo. Adapted from author Cixin Liu’s “Remembrance of Earth’s Past” trilogy, the material follows a group of scientists who attempt to save humanity from a technologically advanced alien race known as the San-Ti. What it meant for the creative team was developing a distinct visual aesthetic capable of reaching the far ends of the galaxy, yet one delicate enough to support the emotional dilemmas each character faced.

“I remember when the guys first wrote to me about this series, and they promised, I quote, ‘A journey from China during the darkest hours of the cultural revolution all the way to the farthest fringes of the universe, both in time and space.’ And I thought,...

Killer Collectibles highlights five of the most exciting new horror products announced each and every week, from toys and apparel to artwork, records, and much more.

Here are the coolest horror collectibles unveiled this week!

Twister Steelbook 4K Uhd from Warner Bros.

Twister lands on Steelbook 4K Ultra HD (with Digital) on July 9 — just in time for the release of its sequel, Twisters, in theaters on July 19. Warner Bros.’s 1996 disaster thriller has been restored in 4K with Hdr and Dolby Atmos audio.

Jan de Bont (Speed) directs from a script by Michael Crichton (Jurassic Park) and Anne-Marie Martin. Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton star with Jami Gertz, Cary Elwes, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Alan Ruck, Todd Field, and Jeremy Davies.

Special features include: a new interview with de Bont; audio commentary by de Bont and visual effects supervisor Stefen Fangmeier; Chasing the Storm: Twister Revisited; Anatomy of a Twister; HBO...

Your browser does not support the video tag. Ahead of the Glen Powell sequel's release, 1996's Twister is getting a special 4K Ultra-hd re-release, which Screen Rant has the first trailer for. The new release includes special features and updates the Oscar-nominated CGI-created tornadoes for an intense viewing experience. With an all-star crew behind the scenes and a talented ensemble cast, Twisters is on track to match the original blockbuster success.

As audiences gear up for a modern take on the property, Screen Rant has the exclusive first look at the 4K Ultra-hd re-release of Twister. Helmed by Speed's Jan de Bont, penned by Jurassic Park author Michael Crichton, and led by Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt, the 1996 disaster thriller revolved around a former storm chaser pulled back into the field by his soon-to-be ex-wife and her team of storm chasers as they attempt to deploy a tornado research device...

The essence of Netflix’s apocalyptic sci-fi series “3 Body Problem” is contained within the immersive VR game engineered by the San-Ti aliens. Using a headset, the VR game transports the player from China’s Shang Dynasty to Tudor England to Kubla Khan’s Xanadu, recreating the chaotic destruction of the alien planet as a result of living in an unstable three-star solar system.

In adapting Liu Cixin’s acclaimed novel, showrunners David Benioff and D. B. Weiss (“Game of Thrones”) and Alexander Woo made the VR game the VFX centerpiece early on, particularly for Episode 3 (“Destroyer of Worlds”), directed by Pixar’s Andrew Stanton (“Wall-e”). Here cosmologist Jin (Jess Hong) and entrepreneur Jack (John Bradley) stand on the observation deck of the Kubla Khan Pleasure Dome and witness 30 million people getting sucked up into the sun because of reverse gravity. It’s a trippy CG effect from Scanline.

“I...

A strong-willed young woman fighting for her life against a motherfricking dragon, that’s all you need to know about Netflix’s Damsel. Directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, Damsel follows the story of a young woman who marries a handsome prince but realizes that it is all a trap when she is thrown into a cave. Now, she must fight and win against the dragon living in the cave to get back to her family and exact her revenge on her soon-to-be ex-in-laws. If you love the fantasy action film here are some similar movies you could watch next.

Ready or Not (Rent on Prime Video & Fubo) Credit – 20th Century Studios

Evil in-laws and a deadly ceremony, that’s what is common in Netflix’s fantasy thriller Damsel and Tyler Gillett and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin directed horror thriller Ready or Not. The 2019 film follows the story of Grace, who couldn’t...

Disney+ is developing a live-action television series adaptation of Eragon, based on Christopher Paolini’s popular YA book series The Inheritance Cycle. Eragon is the first book in the series.

Paolini will co-write the series and executive produce with Bert Salke executive producing via his Co-Lab 21 banner as part of his deal with Disney Television Studios. 20th Television is the studio.

In the series adaptation, a teenage boy becomes magically joined with a newly-hatched dragon. Together, they must learn what it means to be dragon and Rider as they fight in the resistance against a tyrannical king.

“This has been a long time coming,” said Paolini in a blog post. “I can’t tell you how many conversations, meetings, and messages were needed in order to reach this point. And we’re still just at the beginning! However, none of this would have been possible without everyone who has read the books,...

The View Conference is offering free streaming access to its 2020 program, which runs from Oct. 18-23 in Turin, Italy.

“There has been so much bad news in 2020, so I’m thrilled to be able to share some great news for a change,” said conference director Maria Elena Gutierrez. “Everyone could use some extra light and joy in their lives, so we have made the unprecedented decision to make this year’s conference completely free.” Those who register will have streaming access to the conference’s 125 online and on-site talks, workshops, master classes and panels.

“Every session will be available online, allowing anyone to attend anywhere in the world,” said Gutierrez. “This is a fantastic chance to grow the View community and to welcome into our family participants who are unable to travel to Torino or buy a full access pass.”

Keynote speakers include Pixar co-founder Ed Catmull, Industrial Light & Magic’s Dennis Muren,...

After winning its first Emmy last year for the zombie polar bear in “Game of Thrones'” penultimate Season 7, Weta Digital became integral to Season 8, contributing more than 600 VFX shots for the epic battles propelled by dragonfire and the large-scale destruction. They notably animated 30,000 zombie Wights and thousands of Dothrakis with simulated, flaming swords for Episode 3’s The Battle of Winterfell, and developed new tech for combining fire and water simulation for the ambush of Dany’s (Emilia Clarke) fleet in Episode 4 and her vengeful destruction of King’s Landing in Episode 5.

But the most spectacular Weta achievements involved the deaths of beloved dragon Rhaegal in Episode 4 and the giant wight by Lyanna’s (Bella Ramsey) dragonglass dagger in Episode 3. These would’ve impressed the legendary Ray Harryhausen. “Dragons were pretty well established [by Image Engine and Pixomondo], and we needed to bring them into our pipeline and make sure they were looking great with...

[Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for “Game of Thrones” Season 8, Episode 4, “The Last of the Starks.”]

“Game of Thrones” introduces viewers to a new and improved scorpion — a giant crossbow-like weapon — in “The Last of the Starks” that is a vast improvement from the previous clunky one that Bronn (Jerome Flynn) used in the Loot Train battle last season. That old mounted crossbow is big enough to launch a bolt that could pierce a dragon with one man operating it by standing behind it. The new scorpion is massive and requires seven men to operate it, and it has a greater range.

Not only does this scorpion kill a dragon (Rip Rhaegal), but its bolts also have the power to rip through the hull of ships from a distance. Series weapons master Tommy Dunne — the equivalent of Maester Qyburn — spoke to IndieWire about making the massive and impressive piece of machinery.

“In Season 8, the boys [showrunners nm1125275 autoDavid...

Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for “Game of Thrones” Season 8, Episode 4, “The Last of the Starks.”]

On “Game of Thrones,” Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage) excels at drinking and knowing things, which is why his skills are best served by hiding out in the crypts during the War of Winterfell. But while sailing to Dragonstone, he suddenly finds himself in the thick of battle when Euron Greyjoy (Pilou Asbaek) and the Golden Company fire bolts from the giant crossbow-like Scorpions at Daenerys Targaryen’s (Emilia Clarke) fleet.

As the ship’s railing and deck are literally being demolished under his feet, Tyrion scrambles around, decides he’s safer abandoning ship, and then takes a leap into the water below. IndieWire spoke with VFX supervisor Stefen Fangmeier about the stunt sequence that was shot without cuts until he jumps by using a large crane to follow all the chaos.

“It...

[Editor’s Note: The following article contains spoilers for “Game of Thrones” Season 8, Episode 4, “The Last of the Starks.”]

On “Game of Thrones,” dragons are supposed to win the war for Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke), and yet, she’s just lost her second one. In the episode “The Last of the Starks,” Daenerys is flying on Drogon to her home on Dragonstone when Rhaegal is shot by Euron Greyjoy (Pilou Asbaek) using a giant mounted weapon called a Scorpion. The bolts are so large and powerful that the third to pierce Rhaegal’s neck spells his doom, and he plunges into the water below.

How in hell can fierce, airborne creatures that breathe fire be so vulnerable? IndieWire spoke to VFX supervisor Stefen Fangmeier to understand the logistics behind that fatal shot.

“Obviously, it was meant to be a surprise. I did have my misgivings about necessarily how it could be an element of surprise if she’s up there on her dragon,...

[Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers from “Game of Thrones” Season 8, Episode 1, “Winterfell.”]

Although Jon Snow (Kit Harington) isn’t technically the King in the North anymore, he must feel like one after taking his first dragon ride with his girlfriend Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) in the “Game of Thrones” premiere on Sunday. The breathtaking sequence highlights all that is right in Westeros, before everything will go so very wrong in the series in the episodes ahead.

“It’s in beautiful sunlight. You’re in this fantastic snowy landscape. Compared to what comes later, this was the moment of just pure bliss and fun,” said visual effects supervisor Stefen Fangmeier in an interview with IndieWire. “Then also it’s a little bit of a romantic moment with them at the end where they land there and before all the terrible stuff happens because obviously they know that the Night King is going to come with the army of the dead.

Christopher Paolini wrote Eragon when he was just fourteen years old. His parents were so impressed by the manuscript that they decided to self-publish it and take him across America, giving eight-hour talks in medieval gear to promote it. He struggled to get noticed until, eventually, he was spotted during one of these talks by a novelist named Carl Hiaasen. Hiaasen bought the book for his stepson, who fell in love with it. That’s when Hiaasen decided to introduce Paolini and his book to his publisher, Knopf.

Knopf published Eragon after a few more minor edits and then it really took off. It remained on the New York Times Children’s Books Best Seller list for 121 weeks and was the second best-selling children’s paperback book of 2005. In 2006, the book was adapted into a movie by first time director Stefen Fangmeier. It starred Ed Speleers in the title role,...

The Vancouver-based media company is partnering with Chinese producer-distributor Inlook Vision Media on the action-fantasy.

The property is based on the character Nezha from Chinese Mythology and production will include TV series, novels and games.

Rhizome Group president Andreas Thatcher (pictured) said production was scheduled to begin this winter in China and Vancouver.

Stefen Fangmeier (Eragon) will direct and former vice-president of physical production at 21st Century Fox Michael Heard will produce.

The film is estimated to create between 500-600 jobs and “at a budget that reflects the VFX-driven nature of the story.”

Peter Chen, President of Inlook, said his company selected to partner with Rhizome due to their close relationship and Rhizome’s ability to understand and represent Inlook’s global ambitions by serving as the gateway between China and the West.

The partners are also preparing an adaptation of Chinese action-fantasy property Lost In Kunlun.

The Maze Runner will finally hit theaters this Friday, September 19th.

Published in October 2009 and based upon the first book in a bestselling series by James Dashner, the novel became a New York Times Best Seller and captured the imaginations of readers around the world. Fans have described it as a combination of Lord of the Flies, The Hunger Games, and the legendary television series Lost.

Books to film – especially young adult adaptations – are big bucks at the box office. Lionsgate’s The Hunger Games and The Twilight Saga franchises have collectively grossed more than $5 billion at the worldwide box office, and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is the 10th highest-grossing film of all time.

Over the weekend, Variety reported:

The 20th Century Fox release racked up a strong $8.3 million across five markets last weekend, with debuts that compared favorably to another young adult hit, “Divergent.” “The Maze Runner” is...

Vancouver — Prime Focus World presented an advanced discussion of its work on Sin City: A Dame to Kill For — a special project for the VFX company in that it also took a financial stake in the production while handling all of its 2,282 VFX shots. The film is scheduled to open on Aug. 22. Speaking Tuesday at CG confab Siggraph, VFX supervisor Stefen Fangmeier and Prime Focus co-founder and chief creative director Merzin Tavaria related that look of the sequel needed to both respect the look of co-director Frank Miller’s graphic novels and the 2005 Sin City

read more...

Interview videos for The Darkest Hour, with Emile Hirsch, Olivia Thirlby, Max Minghella, Rachael Taylor, director Chris Gorak and more! This comes after we just added 2 new clips from The Darkest Hour science fiction action thriller produced by Timur Bekmambetov and Tom Jocobson. The Summit Entertainment release opens on December 23rd and tells of five young people who find themselves stranded in Moscow, fighting to survive in the wake of a devastating alien attack. The 3D thriller highlights the classic beauty of Moscow alongside mind-blowing special effects. Get feedback from Chris Gorak in a 2-part interview, as well as stars Emile Hirsch (2-part), Olivia Thirlby, Max Minghella (2-part), Rachael Taylor, Joel Kinnaman, both producers, as well as others like Visual Effects and 3D consultant Stefen Fangmeier and executive producer Monnie Wills (2-part)...

Interview videos for The Darkest Hour, with Emile Hirsch, Olivia Thirlby, Max Minghella, Rachael Taylor, director Chris Gorak and more! This comes after we just added 2 new clips from The Darkest Hour science fiction action thriller produced by Timur Bekmambetov and Tom Jocobson. The Summit Entertainment release opens on December 23rd and tells of five young people who find themselves stranded in Moscow, fighting to survive in the wake of a devastating alien attack. The 3D thriller highlights the classic beauty of Moscow alongside mind-blowing special effects. Get feedback from Chris Gorak in a 2-part interview, as well as stars Emile Hirsch (2-part), Olivia Thirlby, Max Minghella (2-part), Rachael Taylor, Joel Kinnaman, both producers, as well as others like Visual Effects and 3D consultant Stefen Fangmeier and executive producer Monnie Wills (2-part)...

Interview videos for The Darkest Hour, with Emile Hirsch, Olivia Thirlby, Max Minghella, Rachael Taylor, director Chris Gorak and more! This comes after we just added 2 new clips from The Darkest Hour science fiction action thriller produced by Timur Bekmambetov and Tom Jocobson. The Summit Entertainment release opens on December 23rd and tells of five young people who find themselves stranded in Moscow, fighting to survive in the wake of a devastating alien attack. The 3D thriller highlights the classic beauty of Moscow alongside mind-blowing special effects. Get feedback from Chris Gorak in a 2-part interview, as well as stars Emile Hirsch (2-part), Olivia Thirlby, Max Minghella (2-part), Rachael Taylor, Joel Kinnaman, both producers, as well as others like Visual Effects and 3D consultant Stefen Fangmeier and executive producer Monnie Wills (2-part)...

Capitalizing on holiday business worldwide, 20th Century Fox International opened Eragon in 76 markets overseas for an estimated $30.3 million from 6,128 screens, propelling the youth-slanted fantasy-adventure to the weekend's No. 1 boxoffice title.

Eragon, the directorial debut of special effects ace Stefen Fangmeier, finished No. 1 in at least 22 of its territories, displacing Casino Royale from the overall top spot. The latest James Bond adventure, which had been the top international title for the last four weeks.

The total worldwide gross for Eragon, which opened day-and-date with its bow in the U.S. (where it finished No. 2), stands at an estimated $53.8 million. In the saturation style of its releasing pattern, it resembles but underperformed Fox's previous family audience hit, Ice Age: The Meltdown, which bowed overseas in April and yielded $43.4 million in its opening weekend at 5,000 screens.

Fox said that Eragon, based on the novel by Christopher Paolini, finished first in Germany (an estimated $4.1 million from 862 screens); Spain ($4.2 million from 500 sites); in all of Latin America, particularly Mexico ($2.3 million from 797 locations); and in Thailand ($1.1 million from 220 screens).

In Japan, Eragon finished No. 2 with an estimated $2.2 million from 561 screens, while in the U.K. it wound up fourth in the market with $2.7 million from 429 locales. In Austria, it ranked No. 2 with an estimated $1.7 million from 321 screens. In Russia, the weekend estimate is $2.2 million from 490 spots.

Belgium, France, Italy, Brazil and Poland are on Eragon's overseas schedule this weekend. South Korea looms next month.

For its part, Casino finished No. 2 overall for the weekend with an estimated $21 million from 7,090 screens in 64 markets. The take pushed the latest Agent 007 adventure's international gross to $280.3 million, making Casino the biggest grosser of the 21 Bond films overseas. The previous record-holder in the series, 2002's Die Another Day, accumulated total international boxoffice of $271 million.

Worldwide, Casino is just $13.4 million shy of breaking the $431.3 million all-time best Bond boxoffice mark set by Die Another Day.

The most notable of Casino's two new markets is Brazil, where it ranked No.

Christopher Paolini began writing his fantasy novel Eragon at age 15 and published it at 18. That roughly represents the age range of those who will be interested in a film version of his story, taking place two millennia ago, about a farm boy and his flying dragon. The young author clearly had absorbed J.R.R. Tolkien and any number of fantasy works and European myths before concocting his own timeless world. But it is a world without much texture or depth. Heroes, villains, magic, love, honor and destiny abound, but there is little complexity in the social, cultural or political shape of this world. So this film, directed by visual effects master Stefen Fangmeier and written by Peter Buchman in a straightforward manner, cannot escape the rote nature of such a fantasy.

Eragon should play well to young audience during the holidays. Then the dragon movie, like the Christmas goose and New Year's turkey, should vanish rapidly. The 20th Century Fox release might actually soar higher in home video.

Eragon (young Ed Speleers, looking a bit overwhelmed in his first movie) stumbles upon a strange blue stone while hunting in the mountains. After trying unsuccessfully to trade it for food, the thing hatches a cute baby dragon, a breed thought extinct thanks to the evil King Galbatorix (John Malkovich). The king and his sorcerer, Durza (Robert Carlyle), all too aware of the true meaning of the dragon's birth, send men to kill the farm boy and the dragon he has named Saphira.

When his uncle is murdered by marauding, superhuman Ra'zacs looking for him, Eragon escapes with Brom (Jeremy Irons), a seemingly burned-out and cynical old warrior. Brom tells Eragon he is the promised Dragon Rider, fated to play a leading role in the upcoming war between the King's army and the human but hidden Varden army lead by Ajihad (Djimon Hounsou).

The movie takes great advantage of rugged locations in Hungary and Slovakia through which Eragon and Brom must travel to reach the Varden's mountain stronghold. But the centerpiece of the movie is, of course, Saphira, a CG creature of sinuous strength and classical features of striking femininity. With Rachel Weisz giving voice to the dragon's inner thoughts, this allows for a certain flirtatiousness to exist between rider and beast.

Their rides together as they learn each other's moves and in the climatic battle will be the make-it-or-break-it moments for the movie as far as its young audiences are concerned. For adults, these rides prove a little disappointing, a little perfunctory. Because CGI has taken us so many places and given us so many creatures during the past decade, filmmakers have to be much more inventive to achieve anything that feels genuinely new.

The younger actors, which include Sienna Guillory as warrior princess Arya and Garrett Hedlund as a Eragon's rescuer with a dark past, are a little too in earnest. Irons and Malkovich, old hands at nonsensical characters, give their line readings a weary undertone of self-mockery that will provoke a few laughs among adult viewers.

Hugh Johnson's cinematography and Wolf Kroeger's sets pull together a fun fantasy world, though a bit derivative of many other movie fantasy worlds.

Before DreamWorks' big soldiers invade cinemas in a fortnight -- with top general Steven Spielberg's third directorial effort to be released in the past 15 months -- there's Joe Dante's fun, well-crafted "Small Soldiers" to remind audiences that not all summer films are more visceral than visionary.

A refreshing, Dantesque spin on capitalism gone awry when advanced military technology is inadvertently used in mass-produced toys, "Soldiers" is a goofy/scary idea with a nostalgic/satiric tone that probably means mixed results at the boxoffice, but the DreamWorks-Universal co-production Will More than make up for it in ancillary markets.

With four credited screenwriters, ubiquitous military adviser Capt. Dale Dye and a small army of artists and technicians -- who the press kit claims took a total of "over 16 man-years" to create "more than 237 character toys" -- "Soldiers" is a little lazy when it comes to fleshing out its human characters, but there's enough story to amiably fill in the breaks between the CG-driven sequences of foot-high action figures going on the warpath.

In a brief infomercial prologue, we're introduced to the reformed military contractor Globotech on a mission to turn civilian. Company commander Gil Mars (Denis Leary) expects big things from a newly acquired toy manufacturer, and his instant big bucks lure two nerdy types (Jay Mohr, David Cross) to put state-of-the-art computer chips in conventional action figures.

Of course, it's hardly believable that these updated GI Joes would become wisecracking terrors able to build a siege weapon capable of launching flaming tennis balls, but that's where the generally snappy dialogue delivered by the likes of Tommy Lee Jones and Frank Langella (as the two leaders of opposing forces) saves the day. One gets easily caught up in the conflict between the Gorgonites and Commando Elite -- both sets of toys display "real intelligence" -- and Langella's programmed-to-lose Archer is a sympathetic, peaceful counterpart to Jones' show-no-mercy warmonger Chip Hazard.

Indeed, a good deal of time is given over to Archer's getting to know the young male lead, Alan (Gregory Smith), whose father (Kevin Dunn) owns a struggling independent toy store. It's Alan who inadvertently discovers the secret of the new Globotech products and becomes a target of the Commandos -- which include four roughnecks voiced by Ernest Borgnine, Jim Brown, George Kennedy and Clint Walker, all veterans of the 1967 classic "The Dirty Dozen".

There are numerous pop culture references -- from famous lines taken from other sources to a climactic mini-helicopter attack a la "Apocalypse Now" to composer Jerry Goldsmith using parts of his own "Patton" score -- and Dante even throws in scenes from "The Crawling Eye" to jog the memories of baby boomers raised on monster movies.

Kirsten Dunst is appealing as Alan's would-be girlfriend, and she lets loose in the movie's wildest scene involving the destruction of mutant Gwendy dolls. Her materialistic father is played with bullheaded energy by the late Phil Hartman, who is tastefully mourned in an outtake placed at the close of the end credits followed by the simple tribute "For Phil". Ann Magnuson as Alan's take-charge mom is wonderful in the deadly siege of the Commandos against the Gorgonites and their human allies.

Bruce Dern, Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Christina Ricci also lend their vocal talents to the colorfully named cast of toys. While the film was surely a logistical/technical headache for cinematographer Jamie Anderson, production designer William Sandell, animation supervisor David Andrews, visual effects supervisor Stefen Fangmeier and action-figure designer Stan Winston, the engaging "Soldiers" does not seduce one only with its remarkable ingenuity -- the best special effect of all.

SMALL SOLDIERS

DreamWorks Distribution

DreamWorks Pictures and Universal Pictures

Director: Joe Dante

Screenwriters: Gavin Scott, Adam Rifkin,

Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio

Producers: Michael Finnell, Colin Wilson

Executive producer: Walter Parkes

Director of photography: Jamie Anderson

Production designer: William Sandell

Editor: Marshall Harvey

Costume designer: Carole Brown-James

Animation supervisor: David Andrews

Visual effects supervisor: Stefen Fangmeier

Action figures/animatronics design: Stan Winston

Music: Jerry Goldsmith

Casting: Denise Chamian

Color/stereo

Cast:

Alan Abernathy: Gregory Smith

Christy Fimple: Kirsten Dunst

Larry Benson: Jay Mohr

Irwin Wayfair: David Cross

Phil Fimple: Phil Hartman

Stuart Abernathy: Kevin Dunn

Irene Abernathy: Ann Magnuson

Gil Mars: Denis Leary

Voice of Chip Hazard: Tommy Lee Jones

Voice of Archer: Frank Langella

Running time -- 109 minutes

MPAA rating: PG-13...