User reviews

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.

Small Soldiers is good old fashioned, Tongue-in-cheek fun.

Regular movie watchers will see many of their favorite characters, all caricatured here together as either a Commando-Elite or a Gorgonite warrior.

The names of the characters, particularly the Commando-Elite, are extremely good, and worthy of an award of their own.

Although some of the animation is a little wooden, that just seemed to add to the whole flavour of the film.

As long as you don't have any pre-conceptions about this film, and ignore the hype, you are in for some highly entertaining fun. After all, who can watch a room full of bikini-clad barbie-dolls-with-attitude, "playing with their owner for a change", without breaking into a grin...

Favorite quote: "Lets see how you like being played with"

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).

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!

SMALL SOLDIERS is, essentially, Joe Dante's third GREMLINS film, except that the antagonists aren't gremlins this time around but instead normal, plastic toys who have been brought to life via military technology. It's along the same lines as TOY STORY, which came out at around the same time, but I think the Dante movie has the edge; it's live action, for a start, and the special effects used to animate the soldiers are remarkable.

The film goes for a light action-adventure template with plenty of laughs thrown into the mix along the way. Like GREMLINS, there's a lot of small-scale stuff going on here, like fireworks being used as weapons and characters encountering the dangers of garbage disposal units. It's a kid's film, with child actors in the lead roles, but one of those ones that adults are sure to enjoy too.

Cast-wise, we're handed decent turns from Gregory Smith (before he won popular attention with EVERWOOD) and Kirsten Dunst (just before she graduated to adult roles in SPIDER-MAN). Elsewhere, we get Denis Leary chewing the scenery as the slimy corporate villain, and Dante lucky charm Dick Miller as an unlucky delivery driver. Best of all are the voice actors hired for the soldiers; they're led by Tommy Lee Jones but boast plenty of veteran talent, including Ernest Borgnine and Frank Langella. Overall, Dante gets the tone just right, leaving this a highly enjoyable family adventure.

Ah yes a Hollywood family film in the same vein as TOY STORY , so expect some highly patronizing , derivative drivel , or rather don`t because I found SMALL SOLDIERS to be a far better film than I expected . Much of this was down to the fact that the movie doesn`t talk down to its audience and the fact I didn`t have to put up with a myriad of scenes featuring bad CGI. Okay fair enough , it`s very obvious that`s a GI Joe doll trailing along on a bicycle but in the context of the story that`s exactly what it`s supposed to be . SMALL SOLDIERS also makes witty references to the likes of PATTON and THE TERMINATOR , ( See if you can spot them ) and what a charming creature Archer of the Gorgonites is . Gorgonites ! You`ve gotta love that name

I enjoyed this movie and despite it not being an all time classic I do recommend it as an entertaining family film

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.

Reviewers and commenters bitched about the movie's inappropriate level of violence for the wee ones. So true, but that's not what sinks this movie. It's that the rest of the movie, outside of the violence is very much pitched to the level of little kids. I mean the plot and characterizations are cardboard simple. The good are very good; politically correct, caring, tree hugging and goofy. The bad are very bad; warlike, martini drinking, tree cutting corporate baddies. And of course the plot is simple; the bad do bad things, but the in the end the good give them their comeuppance. The problem for the kiddies is that this comeuppance is the toy version of the opening scene of Saving Private Ryan. If DreamWorks had cut out the toy violence and kept their mindless characters and story they might have made some money on this stinker. Grownups avoid.

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.

This movie doesn't have very much going for it; it's based on a theme that, no matter how you view it, is pretty corny... toy soldier action figures, fighting like real soldiers. Even from the guy behind Gremlins, that's fairly corny. He pulls it off decently enough, though. The action scenes and the various actions of the toys obviously parody various war movies, and this they actually do quite well; the problem is, why make a war movie parody in the form of a teen-oriented movie? Most teens don't care about war movies, since most war movies are from before they were born, along with the wars themselves. Had this film been directed at the adult audience, and gone for social satire instead of simple, weird catchphrase fun, it might have been something much better. The voice work is all very good, there weren't really any of the toys voices that seemed miscast. I really enjoyed Tommy Lee Jones as the leader of the army toys, and Sarah Michelle Gellar did a great job on the Gwendy dolls. Apart from the great voice work, I thought the Gwendy dolls were fairly lame, though. That seemed a little like the director had run out of ideas, and just went with whatever came to mind. I thought the actors all did a pretty good job, I especially enjoyed Jay Mohr, David Cross and Phil Hartman. Unfortunately, the film has more low points than high points; the romance between the two main characters seemed unlikely and bland, like it was just thrown in for the effect. Also, apart from of course the basic idea of thinking action figures, the film has too many unrealistic scenes to be taken even the least bit seriously. Too much of the humor seems forced, only fairly little of it actually has the effect it's supposed to have on the audience. I also thought the whole idea of having the soldier figures build weapons out of power tools and the likes was a decent enough idea, it just lacks any good explanation of how they manage to build such impressive firepower from so little, and this actually bothered me so much that I at times sat there, being generally annoyed at a scene based on such an unrealistic premise rather than entertained by it. Half of the film goes slowly by, with few laughs, little action and very little excitement. The climax is decently made, and fairly entertaining, but all in all, this is just one of those films that you'll watch, and then pretty much forget about. It doesn't really have anything memorable. Even the effects look dated already. They might have been impressive back then, but they look so fake now. I recommend this only to fans of war movies who want to see a decent spoof of it, and maybe kids and teenagers who can accept a decent comedy. 6/10

BAD NEWS - Typical Hollywood family in that the film features stupid parents, annoying teens who are too worldly for their age and think they get no respect from their parents. Also, there are the usual anti-military messages and anti- Republican cheap shots. The story has The Commandos (military, which means bad guys, of course) against the Gorgonites (peaceful, different-looking creatures.)

GOOD NEWS - A very clever animated-live action computer animated film (at least for 1998) in which the toys come to life and look real. Once the action starts, it's a very interesting story with fun special-effects, some good, funny dialog and some neat references to past films. Sometimes it's tough to catch them all.

It had the chance to be very good, but it turned out wrong. The story wasn't very convincing, which normally wouldn't be a problem, but what I found was the biggest problem, was that I didn't care about any of the characters. First you have this kid named Alan who works for his father in a toy store. He seems to have this reputation around school, but while that got fully explained really quickly, it was built up so much; you thought there would be more to it. Then you have this girl he really likes (for no apparent reason than because she's beautiful, but I guess that's not too much of a problem) named Christy. But she has a boyfriend, so you figure there'd be this love triangle thing going on, but it never happens. So then you have these toys. Toys that have been implanted with a smart chip built by the military. They have the ability to talk, talk back, and learn. So one set of toys (the Commando Elite) is programmed to attack and kill the other set of toys (the Gorgonites). Sound exciting? Well, it isn't.

So what is this movie about? Is it about this boy Alan, trying to win the girl? Is it about him tyrying to win his fathers acceptance? Is it about these toys called the Gorgonites? What the hell is this movie about? It seems it's only about toys killing toys, and if people get in the way, kill the people. This movie was not funny. So don't go in thinking it'll be like Toy Story or Toy Story 2 because it isn't like either of those films. Both those films were entertaining. And more importantly, both those movies had heart, and characters you cared about. I could have cared less if Alan got the girl, or saved the poor little Gorgonites. And speaking of the Gorgonites, I was getting a little tired of the leader of the Gorgonites (Archer) complaining all the time of how they were programmed to lose. Did he lose? Hell no. He won! Not only that, while all the other toys seemed to get destroyed, him and his band lived. All because they were covered partially by a satellite dish? Please.

The only redeeming thing about this movie was the computer animation. It is remarkable how they can make things look so real. The toys really did come to life on the screen. But other than that, this movie had the chance of being really good, but instead fell flat on its face. Give me characters I care about. Or give me a real story. Or give me a reason for all the violence. This movie seemed to be targeting kids, but I don't think this was a kid's movie at all.

These action toys are never at a loss for a sharp quip or a fast jab and keep things humming merrily along in a film the kiddies should love. The toy soldiers steal the film from the adults--not too much of a chore since the main roles are strictly nondescript. But once the toys start to show some sign of life, the film moves along at a fast clip with some funny references to other films--notably Franz Waxman's "Bride of Frankenstein" music used for a portion where one of the Commandos cries: "It's alive! It's alive!"

Gregory Smith as the trouble-making teen and Kirsten Dunst as his girl-friend are pleasing enough. Phil Hartman has an inauspicious supporting role as her father. But it's the voice talent of Tommy Lee Jones as Major Chip Hazard and Frank Langella as Archer (leader of the Gorgonites) that provide the most entertaining moments as they give life to the toy figures.

If you can suspend your disbelief long enough to absorb the silly premise of the story, you'll have a good time. Kids will probably be fascinated by the lifelike figures and adults might find it all highly amusing despite the silliness of the basic plot.

All the production values and special effects are first class. Some scary fun and some clever lines all the way through. Not bad. And kudos to Jerry Goldsmith for a lively and pleasing background score. Once they punch their way out of their wrappings, these toys are terminators!!

Since it's Small Soldiers Week on TBS I thought I'd stop by and toss in my two cents. Likeable cast gets caught in cross-fire between lunatic toy commandos (led by Jones) and friendly if goofy toy Gorgonites (led by Langella). Wierd combination of sap and mayhem with a cute finale. Has alot in common with Dante's earlier Gremlins, although the over-the-top violence is easier for me to stomach in this one. 8/10

My Take: Fine special effects and a few moments of cartoon excitement make up for weak storyline and broad satire.

While it serves up as much fun as his previous works (GREMLINS and INNERSPACE notably), cult director Joe Dante has created what I'd credit as his weakest effort at a film that strangely but slickly fuses rather dark tones (violence) with the wackiness of a Looney Tunes cartoon. Still, considerably, SMALL SOLDIERS is a decent, noble effort at duplicating GREMLINS while knocking-off TOY'S STORY, erasing the feel-good image of smiling cowboy dolls and space toys of that animated film. The special effects work here (done by veterans Stan Winston and the gang of Industrial Light & Magic) are of the best quality, with a nearly indistinguishable alternation of CGI and animatronics. The film manages even to afford certain amounts of pyrotechnics and (literally miniature) explosions, especially during the near-end climax.

The problem lies on the real aspects of the film: human characters (hardly hooking) and plot (which this film hardly has any). The cast (Tommy Lee Jones and Frank Langella as the voice of the toys, and Denis Leary as a sleazy CEO poking fun on Donald Trump) are fine, but rarely used in the films weak writing. But overall, SMALL SOLDIERS delivers a fine, and thankfully short, 108 minutes. It's decent family entertainment, but parental guidance is strongly required.

Rating: *** out of 5.

Kind of boring. Maybe the plot and climax felt small because the antagonists were small? The Gorgonites do almost nothing for most of the movie. Main character is forgettable. Needed more toy gore. Best parts of the movie was seeing the monstrosities of the toys being alive while also mutilated. I wouldn't call this movie bad, but it's bland and forgettable. There are better movies about living toys, killer toys, and small mischief makers. The father seemed unnecessarily mean to his kid. Apparently the boy was a trouble maker, but we don't get to see it or come to learn why he behaved that way so it just makes the dad come across as an ass. Running out of talking points. Ending thoughts here.

It's 2023, and this 1998 film is better than the majority of stupid, soulless films they keep throwing at us like gnawed bones and leftovers. And, finally, I have Small Soldiers in my collection, where it belongs.

This film isn't just a mindless fun, it has some amazing character development both for human and toy characters. They all have personalities, and it's brilliant! The humour is very good and clever, too. But the plot is even better.

I thought I was too old to enjoy it, but now that I've watched it again after so many years, I can tell that it wasn't just created for children.

Film-makers just don't make good stuff like this anymore. God forbid Small Soldiers ever gets a crappy remake the film doesn't need.

Filmmaker Joe Dante once again shows off his great skill for anarchic storytelling with this 90s family comedy. Jay Mohr plays Larry, a toy company marketing executive eager to please his new boss Gil Mars (Denis Leary). So what he does is arrange to have highly advanced military microchips planted inside his company's latest toy line. These are a badass commando squad, led by Tommy Lee Jones as the voice of Chip Hazard. And the squad has been programmed to believe that an unhandsome group of alien toys, the Gorgonites, are their mortal enemies. (The leader of the Gorgonites is a majestic, soft-spoken beast voiced by Frank Langella.) The squad ends up unleashing Hell on a picture-perfect community in the name of annihilating their foes.

Eventually building to a frantic, high-energy action climax, "Small Soldiers" may not represent the best of Dante's work, but it does serve its purpose. Besides, your younger family members are sure to take to the toy characters, well designed by Stan Winstons' Studio and well realized by a combination of digital animation and animatronics. As usual, the score by Jerry Goldsmith plays a big part in the appeal, and the cast is full of familiar faces: Kirsten Dunst, the great Phil Hartman (in his final film role), Kevin Dunn, David Cross, Ann Magnuson, the almighty Dick Miller, Wendy Schaal, Belinda Balaski, Robert Picardo, Rance Howard, and Jackie Joseph. But the most fun that Dante and company have is in the selection of voice-over talent that is certain to appeal to buffs: cast members of "The Dirty Dozen" (Ernest Borgnine, Jim Brown, George Kennedy, and Clint Walker), along with Bruce Dern, as the members of the squad, and the members of "Spinal Tap" (Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer) as the voices of the Gorgonites. And Sarah Michelle Gellar and Christina Ricci are the voices of the various Gwendy dolls.

Once again, we can tell that Dante himself is as much of a classic movie fan as many of us, judging by his in-jokes and references. For example, a one-eyed Gorgonite named Ocula sees "The Crawling Eye" on TV, and it seems to be love at first sight.

Good fun overall.

People who sit through the end credits will be rewarded with a brief outtake with Hartman, to whom the film is dedicated.

Seven out of 10.

Small Soldiers tells the tale of a young boy who buys a new toy(voiced by Tommy Lee Jones) that comes to life as it has a special chip that brings the new toys to life. So its up to the young boy and his female friend(played by a very young Kristen Dunst)to stop them before mayhem occurs.

I seen this a very long time ago as a kid and it wasn't that bad its sort of a film you would add in your guilty pleasure movies list. The plot is OK but it sorta rips off Toy Story actually the whole film is like watching Toy Story all over again.

If you never seen it then give it a shot.

OK

Let's be honest, the concept of Small Soldiers(toys coming to life) came from Toy Story. However, DreamWorks came up with a MUCH different plot and the result is a great-and grossly underrated-family movie/action flick with top notch CGI.

I'm sure many say DreamWorks is a poor man's Disney/Pixar, and I agree, but this one movie in which DreamWorks shines. One might argue that the Commandos are glorified G.I. Joes, but I will gladly look past that because, c'mon, they're awesome.

Small Soldiers is a fine piece of entertainment and some of DreamWorks' best work to boot. I am begging you, don't pass it up. You won't regret giving it your time.

In this tepid remake (rehash?) of the same themes from his 1984 "Gremlins," Joe Dante proves once again to be one of Hollywood's greatest purveyors of in-jokes about movies and the movie business, but a hack filmmaker nonetheless. Violent, aimless, gratuitous on several counts, poorly acted (the kids are alright, but the adults act, well, childish. Even poor Phil Hartman turns in a laughably stiff performance, his last, and the multi -talented Ann Magnuson and Cheri Oteri--of SNL fame--are woefully wasted), and with all the dramatic energy of a battle between mismatched armies, even the special effects are poorly rendered in this, Dante's 13th feature film. Yes, Dante's inferno has some clever moments, even an impressive first 10 minutes, but after this snap-crackle-pop open its all downhill from there. Way downhill...