Directed by:
Joe DanteCinematography:
Jamie AndersonComposer:
Jerry GoldsmithCast:
David Cross, Jay Mohr, Denis Leary, Gregory Smith, Dick Miller, Kirsten Dunst, Jonathan Bouck, Kevin Dunn, Ann Magnuson, Wendy Schaal, Phil Hartman (more)VOD (3)
Plots(1)
In the small suburban town of Winslow Corners, Ohio, life is quiet, people are friendly, and action figures are only toys. Then again, don't judge an action figure by its box. Meet the Commando Elite--action figures with an attitude. To them, everything else is just a toy...including the unsuspecting suburbanites of Winslow Corners who have somehow found themselves allied with the Commando's sworn enemies: the Gorgonites. The monstrous-looking but noble Gorgonites want only to hide from the Commandos long enough to find the lost island of Gorgon. Unfortunately, the Commando Elite is not interested in truces or negotiations...and they don't take prisoners. (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Reviews (1)
In 1998, Joe Dante made a film in the style of his best films from the 1980s. Instead of Gremlins, however, this time there are the Commando Elite members and Gorgonites on the screen, instead of one wacky hypochondriac from the Inner Universe there are two wacky (and very awkward) scientists, and one typical American suburb gets a lot more work than in the finale of The 'Burbs. Small Soldiers could have been even better if the writers hadn't taken away the human characters and made most of them unsympathetic jerks. This is how the film is saved, literally, by ILM's and Stan Winston's top-notch special effects, Dante's flair for hyperbole and his ability to turn even a seemingly naive situation like an army of toys attacking an inhabited house into an absolutely riveting event. I don't need to mention that Jerry Goldsmith helped him again (and that their unfortunately penultimate collaboration was again successful).
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