I remember seeing this movie as a kid. I never owned it, but we did rent it one time, I was probably in the second, maybe third grade. I"m not quite sure what I thought of it then. Maybe I liked it, maybe I didn't, I don't know. But here's what I think of it now, now that I"m grown up so much since then.
Plot: A multinational conglomerate called GloboTech Industries buys a toy company and the CEO decides to make new toys that are capable to talk, learn, and all around be able to "play back" so to speak. The toys are the Commando Elites lead by the evil Chip Hazard, and these creatures called the Gorgonites lead by the sentient Archer. Teenager Alan Abernathy signs a shipment for these certain toys for his dad's toy store without his father knowing. But the Commando Elite toys awaken and attempt to destroy the Gorgonites, leaving Alan to be Archer's ally in attempt to defeat the Commando Elite.
Original? Not in the slightest. In fact, if you think about it, it's almost exactly like the first Transformers film. I mean *WARNING SPOILERS* 1)The girl that the main male character is interested in has a guy. And he totally ends up with her in the end. 2) the main bad guy leader is the stronger and smarter one while the main good guy leader is a total sentient being. 3) good guy leader can't defeat the main bad guy so the main human character kills him instead thereby winning the battle single-handed. 4) They even have the main human characters dad be played by Kevin Dunn. *groans* what a delight. *END OF SPOILERS* But even then, I don't think it's structured to well in terms of character development for the Gorgonites. I mean they do plenty with Archer, but they don't really introduce the rest of them very much. I mean I'm not saying I found any of them particularly interesting, but if they were, then they failed to show them enough times to make them interesting. But I will say that the film wasn't too bad when it came to the all around battle. I mean it's no Transformers or The Avengers, but considering what the concept of this movie is, it wasn't entirely that bad. There action was okay, it's set for just kids and family, but you may enjoy it anyway. I mean it may be humans against toys, but it still has more entertaining action than Last Airbender. If there's anything else to add, it's that it's not cool that they spoofed a couple of movie references such as Patton and All Quiet in the Western Front. Just that they weren't very funny.
Acting/Characters:
Gregory Smith/Alan Abernathy: Now in terms of how he was saying his lines and stuff like that, he was good. But it was his facial expression that just plain sucked. He barley had any emotion. I mean we're talking Twilight kind of no emotion. That kid has a terrible case of *over dramatically takes of glasses* the TWILIGHT FACE!!! *dramatic music* But even then he gave us an okay character. Not the most original in any way, but at least he was a little enjoyable.
Kristen Dunst/Christy: Two Kristen Dunst movies reviewed in less than a week. How about that. Anyway, she did an alright job. One down to her was that she started off being Mary Jane Watson like with how she was talking to Alan and with how she was reacting to what happens throughout the film. But later she was all adventurous and ready to fight which made her a little more fun to watch.
Phil Hartman/Phil: When I was reviewing Kiki's Delivery Service, I noticed that Phil Hartman died a couple of months before either of these films came out. So when I noticed that this was his last film, watching how he did before he died became the second reason I watched this movie again aside from the fact that I saw it before. And while this was not the best character to play during his last film, he did alright. His character was a really stubborn, like-having-nice-things guy and he did a nice job doing that. So if there was any itty bitty reason to see this film, one of them might be to see the last role of this man who died at the age of only 49.
Music: Okay it was nice to hear the actual version of that song "War" since I've only heard it from Everybody Loves Raymond episode and a couple of guys singing it one time. There may be more times, but that comes off the top of my head. I also liked "Another one bites the Dust" and while it was completely random and pointless, "Wannabe"
Editing: it was okay but I don't think the part where Christy falls while she's getting taken down by her dolls was necessary in terms of her fall going slowly. I think just an ordinary fall would've worked better for the suspense...if there was any.
And that's my review for Small Soldiers. It's not original and it's not cool that they spoof some particular movie references, but it's a little fun with a decent soundtrack and respectable enough just because it's one of Phil Hartman's last films.
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