Small Soldiers

Director: Joe Dante
Screenplay: Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio
Starring: Gregory Smith, Kirsten Dunst, David Cross, Denis Leary, Jay Mohr, Phil Hartman, Kevin Dunn and Tommy Lee Jones

John's Review

    G.I. Joe goes ballistic in Dante's smart, witty hybrid of Toy Story and his own Gremlins. Mohr (Jerry Maguire) plays a toy designer who comes up with a cool new toy, the Commando Elite, a toy soldier that has a penchant for destruction. The well-meaning Smith snags the first shipment hot off the assembly line and all hell breaks loose in his family's little town. Dante does a brilliantly hilarious job of spoofing film classics like Patton, Apocalypse Now and even E.T. Oscar winner Stan Winston creates eye-popping special effects, and a cast of all-stars--led by Jones doing a redux of his Fugitive days--lend their voices to the mighty testosterone mites. Sadly, Small Soldiers marks the last film in Hartman's career.
    In a desperate attempt to save their jobs, two toy designers (David Cross and Jay Mohr) develop a platoon of commando action figures programmed to decimate their mortal enemies, an assortment of odd-looking but noble monsters called the Gorgonites. Unfortunately, in their scramble to equip the toys with technology that will enable them to talk and move, the bumbling duo inadvertently utilize surplus defective munitions chips from parent company Globotech's global warfare arm. As a result, Commander Chip Hazard (voiced by Tommy Lee Jones) and his bicep-bulging platoon take their mission a little too seriously and have no qualms about killing any humans who get between them and the Gorgonites.
   The result is a rather harrowing film, at least for an animated adventure about toys, a genre one would think would be fun for the whole family. Much like Gremlins the films is at times a little too scary for it's target audience. Small Soldiers earned its PG-13 rating for "menacing action/violence". Picture the "Toy Story" rivalry between Woody and Buzz Lightyear, only with Woody as a homicidal maniac.
    The computer graphic effects are well-done and fairly seamless, although there are too many times when the film cuts from a close-up of a moving soldier to a wide shot of what is clearly an inanimate object. Unlike Toy Story, to which the inevitable comparisons will be made, the toys here move stiffly, or more realistically, if you will, their jaws moving up and down in the choppy fashion of a puppet.
    Though it's ultimately little more than a reincarnation of director Joe Dante's Gremlins, Small Soldiers does boast quite a bit of ingenuity and humor. The animation is excellent, and the voice cast alone is worth the price of admission: Spinal Tap's Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer define the motley band of Gorgonites; famous tough guys such as Ernest Borgnine, Jim Brown and George Kennedy breath life into the Commandos; and Sarah Michelle Gellar and Christina Ricci portray a collection of Barbie-like "Gwendy" dolls, recruited as ditzy reinforcements by Hazard's men.

Grade: B-

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