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Small Soldiers (1998)
Runtime: 1 hr 50 mins
Synopsis: A toy company believes it is onto something when it employs the latest government military technology in a series of action figures, enabling them to talk. They underestimate the power of the special micro chips they've employed, however, as the two opposing sides of the toy line start... A toy company believes it is onto something when it employs the latest government military technology in a series of action figures, enabling them to talk. They underestimate the power of the special micro chips they've employed, however, as the two opposing sides of the toy line start thinking for themselves and engaging in real combat. The Commando Elite (belligerent war toys) vow to wipe out the Gorgonites (kindhearted misfit fantasy creature figures) in a suburban neighborhood. A young boy, with the help of the kind Gorgonites, must protect his home and family from the Commandos. Listen for the voices of Spinal Tap (Mike McKean, Chris Guest, and Harry Shearer) as Gorgonite Voices as well as Sarah Michelle Gellar and Christina Ricci (as the voices of evil, mutated Barbie dolls). [More]
Genre: Comedies
Starring: Kirsten Dunst, Phil Hartman, Gregory Edward Smith, Jay Mohr, Denis Leary
Screenwriter: Gavin Scott, Adam Rifkin, Terry Rossio, Ted Elliott
Producer: Michael Finnell, Colin Wilson
Composer: Jerry Goldsmith
Reviews
...for all its shortcomings, the end result is quite entertaining.
An infomercial with the schmaltz that passes for emotion in family-aimed films.
Typical of Dante's films, Small Soldiers is an unbroken string of pop culture in-jokes.
It looks like the movie was edited down from a much meaner version, to our loss.
The animation is excellent, and the voice cast alone is worth the price of admission...
...this smells like a script slapped together around a toy-product launch.
Though it starts promisingly, the picture ends as a standoff between the affection Dante and company bring to the project and its increasingly frenetic and tiresome emphasis on what special effects can make its little people do.
G.I. Joe goes ballistic in Dante's smart, witty hybrid of Toy Story and his own Gremlins.
This live-action, animated feature has all the charm of the entirely animated Toy Story plus an audacity all of its own.
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