''Small Soldiers'' is a 1998 American action comedy film directed by Joe Dante and written by Gavin Scott,

Adam Rifkin Adam Rifkin (born December 31, 1966), sometimes credited as Rif Coogan, is an American filmmaker, and actor. His career ranges from broad family comedies to dark and gritty urban dramas. He is best known for writing family-friendly comedies lik ...

, Ted Elliott, and Terry Rossio. It stars

Kirsten Dunst Kirsten Caroline Dunst (; born April 30, 1982) is an American actress. She made her acting debut in the short ''Oedipus Wrecks'' directed by Woody Allen in the anthology film '' New York Stories'' (1989). She then gained recognition for her r ...

and Gregory Smith, along with the voices of Frank Langella and

Tommy Lee Jones Tommy Lee Jones (born September 15, 1946) is an American actor and film director. He has received four Academy Award nominations, winning Best Supporting Actor for his performance as U.S. Marshal Samuel Gerard in the 1993 thriller film '' T ...

. It depicts two factions of toys which turn sentient after being programmed with a military microprocessor, putting in danger when one faction ultimately turns lethal. Released on July 10, 1998, in the United States, the film received mixed reviews, but grossed $87.5 million on a $40 million budget. ''Small Soldiers'' marks the last on-screen film role of Phil Hartman, who was murdered two months before the film's American premiere, and is dedicated in his memory. It was also the final film role of Clint Walker.

Plot

When top defense contractor GloboTech Industries acquires the Heartland Toy Company, CEO Gil Mars commissions toy designers Larry Benson and Irwin Wayfair to develop toys capable of "playing back". Mars selects Larry's "Commando Elite" action figures for the project, with Irwin's "Gorgonites" — peaceful monsters intended to be educational toys — as their enemies. Facing a tight deadline, Larry unwittingly equips the toys with GloboTech's X1000

microprocessor A microprocessor is a computer processor where the data processing logic and control is included on a single integrated circuit, or a small number of integrated circuits. The microprocessor contains the arithmetic, logic, and control circu ...

. Working at his family's toy store, teenager Alan Abernathy persuades delivery driver Joe to give him a shipment of the new GloboTech toys, activating Chip Hazard, head of the Commando Elite, and Archer, the Gorgonites' leader. Alan develops a crush on his neighbor Christy Fimple, and returns home to discover Archer in his backpack, realizing the toys are essentially self-aware and capable of learning. That night, Chip Hazard activates his comrades to attack the Gorgonites, and Alan finds the store in disarray and the new toys missing. Christy helps clean up, and Alan calls GloboTech to file a complaint. Larry and Irwin hear his message, and discover the X1000 is a military-grade

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machine A machine is a physical system using Power (physics), power to apply Force, forces and control Motion, moveme ...

chip, susceptible to EMPs. Following Alan home, the Commando Elite interrogate Archer, but Alan intervenes and is wounded by Nick Nitro, whom he partially destroys in the garbage disposal. His parents hear the commotion, but refuse to believe his explanation about the toys. Alan and Archer find the Gorgonites hiding in the store's dumpster; unlike the militant Commando Elite, the Gorgonites were programmed with Irwin's original friendly and inquisitive personalities, and merely seek to find their home, which they believe to be in

Yosemite National Park Yosemite National Park ( ) is an American national park in California, surrounded on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The park is managed by the National Park Service and covers an ...

. Tapping the Abernathys' phone line, the Commando Elite learn of Alan's interest in Christy. Infiltrating her house, they capture her younger brother Timmy, sedate their parents, and use Nick Nitro's AI chip to transform Christy's "Gwendy" fashion dolls into reinforcements. Taking Christy hostage, they demand that Alan surrender the Gorgonites. Alan and Archer sneak into the Fimples' house and rescue Christy. The Commando Elite pursue them with improvised vehicles built in the Fimples' garage, but are destroyed in a fiery crash; only Chip Hazard survives. At the Abernathys' house, Alan, Christy, and the Gorgonites try to convince their families of the truth about the toys, and Irwin and Larry arrive to talk to Alan about his voicemail. Chip Hazard arrives with a new army of Commando Elite and more improvised vehicles and weapons, having hijacked a recall shipment driven by Joe, and lays siege to the house, cutting off the electricity. When Irwin suggests an EMP, the group realizes they can overload the nearby power lines. Christy, Irwin, and Larry make their way to the Fimples' house to ensure a larger surge, and the Gorgonites emerge and fight back against the Commando Elite. Climbing the utility pole, Alan is attacked by Chip Hazard, who battles and defeats Archer, but Alan thrusts him into the power transformers as Larry and Irwin wedge open the breakers, triggering the EMP blast and destroying the toys. In the morning, as the authorities clear up the aftermath, Mars arrives by helicopter, paying off Joe and both families for the damage, and instructs Larry and Irwin to repurpose the Commando Elite for military use. Alan and Christy start a relationship, and he discovers the Gorgonites survived the EMP underneath the Fimples' satellite dish. Alan brings the Gorgonites to Yosemite, sharing a goodbye before sending them off in his father's toy boat to find their home.

Cast

as Christy Fimple * Gregory Smith as Alan Abernathy * Jay Mohr as Larry Benson * Phil Hartman as Phil Fimple *

Kevin Dunn Kevin Dunn (born August 24, 1956) is an American actor who has appeared in supporting roles in a number of films and television series since the 1980s. Dunn's roles include White House Communications Director Alan Reed in the political comedy '' ...

as Stuart Abernathy * Denis Leary as Gil Mars *

Ann Magnuson Ann Magnuson (born January 4, 1956) is an American actress, performance artist, and nightclub performer. She was described by ''The New York Times'' in 1990 as "An endearing theatrical chameleon who has as many characters at her fingertips as L ...

as Irene Abernathy * David Cross as Irwin Wayfair * Wendy Schaal as Marion Fimple * Jacob Smith as Timmy Fimple *

Alexandra Wilson Alexandra Muriel Wilson is an American actress. She is best known for playing the original Josie Watts on the soap opera '' Another World'' (1988–1991). She also starred in the television series '' Homefront'' (1991-1992) and the major motio ...

as Ms. Kegel *

Dick Miller Richard Miller (December 25, 1928 – January 30, 2019) was an American character actor who appeared in more than 180 films, including many produced by Roger Corman. He later appeared in the films of directors who began their careers with Cor ...

as Joe *

Robert Picardo Robert Alphonse Picardo (born October 27, 1953) is an American actor. He is best known for playing the Cowboy in ''Innerspace'', Coach Cutlip on ''The Wonder Years'', Captain Dick Richard on the ABC series '' China Beach'', the Doctor on '' St ...

as Ralph Quist * Jonathan Bouck as Brad * Belinda Balaski as Neighbor * Rance Howard as Husband * Jackie Joseph as Wife ''Small Soldiers'' was Hartman's last on-screen role before his death and the film is dedicated to his memory.

Voice cast

Gorgonites

* Frank Langella as Archer *

Christopher Guest Christopher Haden-Guest, 5th Baron Haden-Guest (born February 5, 1948) is an American-British screenwriter, composer, musician, director, actor, and comedian. Guest is most widely known in Cinema of the United States, Hollywood for having writte ...

as Slamfist/Scratch-It *

Michael McKean Michael John McKean (; born October 17, 1947) is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, composer, singer, and musician known for various roles in film and television such as Lenny Kosnowski in ''Laverne & Shirley'', David St. Hubbins in '' ...

as Insaniac/Troglokhan (later known as Freakenstein) *

Harry Shearer Harry Julius Shearer (born December 23, 1943) is an American actor, comedian, writer, musician, radio host, director and producer. Born in Los Angeles, California, Shearer began his career as a child actor. From 1969 to 1976, Shearer was a membe ...

as Punch-It *

Jim Cummings James Jonah Cummings (born November 3, 1952) is an American voice actor. Since beginning his career in the 1980s, he has appeared in almost 400 roles. Cummings has frequently worked with The Walt Disney Company and Warner Bros., including as t ...

as Ocula

Commando Elite

as Chip Hazard *

George Kennedy George Harris Kennedy Jr. (February 18, 1925 – February 28, 2016) was an American actor who appeared in more than 100 film and television productions. He played "Dragline" opposite Paul Newman in ''Cool Hand Luke'' (1967), winning the Academ ...

as Brick Bazooka *

Jim Brown James Nathaniel Brown (born February 17, 1936) is a former American football player, sports analyst and actor. He played as a fullback for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL) from 1957 through 1965. Considered to be o ...

as Butch Meathook *

Ernest Borgnine Ernest Borgnine (; born Ermes Effron Borgnino; January 24, 1917 – July 8, 2012) was an American actor whose career spanned over six decades. He was noted for his gruff but relaxed voice and gap-toothed Cheshire Cat grin. A popular perfor ...

as Kip Killigan * Clint Walker as Nick Nitro *

Bruce Dern Bruce MacLeish Dern (born June 4, 1936) is an American actor. He has often played supporting villainous characters of unstable natures. He has received several accolades, including the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor and the Silver ...

as Link Static

Others

Sarah Michelle Gellar Sarah Michelle Prinze ( ; born April 14, 1977) is an American actress. After being spotted at the age of four in New York City, she made her screen acting debut in the television film ''An Invasion of Privacy'' (1983). A leading role on the te ...

and Christina Ricci as Gwendy Dolls Excluding Jones and Dern, the Commando Elite are voiced by cast members from the 1967 film '' The Dirty Dozen''. Dern replaced ''The Dirty Dozen'' actor Richard Jaeckel, who died before shooting began. Excluding Langella and Cummings, the Gorgonites are voiced by cast members from the 1984 film '' This Is Spinal Tap''. The film was the last role for Walker before his retirement from acting.

Production

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." On the film's special effects, Dante stated, "We were planning to use a lot of

Stan Winston Stanley Winston (April 7, 1946 – June 15, 2008) was an American television and film special make-up effects creator, best known for his work in the ''Terminator'' series, the first three ''Jurassic Park'' films, ''Aliens'', '' The Thing'', th ...

's puppets—he had made some very elaborate puppets that could do a lot of things. But in practice, we found it was much simpler and cheaper to let the CGI people do the work after we'd shot the scenes, rather than

stop motion Stop motion is an animated filmmaking technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exhibit independent motion or change when the series of frames ...

. So, I would say, it's one-third puppetry and the rest CGI in ''Small Soldiers'', even though the original idea was to do mostly puppetry."

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

, 49% of 45 surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average score is of 6.2/10. The critical consensus states, "''Small Soldiers'' has plenty of visual razzle-dazzle, but the rote story proves disappointingly deficient in director Joe Dante's trademark anarchic spirit." Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.

Siskel & Ebert Gene Siskel (January 26, 1946 – February 20, 1999) and Roger Ebert (June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013), collectively known as Siskel & Ebert, were American film critics known for their partnership on television lasting from 1975 to Siskel's de ...

gave it Two Thumbs Down.

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

gave the film 2.5 out of 4 stars, saying: "The toys are presented as individuals who can think for themselves, and there are believable heroes and villains among them. For smaller children, this could be a terrifying experience." Caroline Westbrook of '' Empire Magazine'' gave the film 3 out of 5 stars and said: "It's '' Gremlins'' with toy soldiers, except not quite as dark or funny." The film grossed $55.2 million in the United States and Canada and $87.5 million worldwide.

Lawsuit

Filmmaker Gregory P. Grant filed suit against

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Spi ...

, DreamWorks and

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...

for copying his film '' Ode to GI Joe'', which played at film festivals and earned him a Student Academy Award.

In other media

Soundtrack

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

containing classic rock blended with hip hop was released on July 7, 1998, by

DreamWorks Records DreamWorks Records (often referred in copyright notices as SKG Music, LLC) was an American record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, ...

. It peaked at 103 on the ''Billboard 200''. The film score was composed and conducted by veteran composer

Jerry Goldsmith Jerrald King Goldsmith (February 10, 1929July 21, 2004) was an American composer and conductor known for his work in film and television scoring. He composed scores for five films in the ''Star Trek'' franchise and three in the ''Rambo'' franch ...

. In addition, a video game based on the film was developed by

DreamWorks Interactive Danger Close Games (formerly DreamWorks Interactive LLC and EA Los Angeles) was an American video game developer based in Los Angeles. The company was founded in March 1995 as joint venture between DreamWorks SKG and Microsoft (later moved to ...

and released by

Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted th ...

on September 30, 1998. Kenner Products (a subsidiary of

Hasbro Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational conglomerate holding company incorporated and headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Hasbro owns the trademarks and products of K ...

) produced a line of toys, which featured the Gorgonites and the Commando Elite.

Burger King Burger King (BK) is an American-based multinational chain of hamburger fast food restaurants. Headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida, the company was founded in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacksonville, Florida–based restaurant c ...

teamed up with the film to promote their new product, the Rodeo Burger. They created a line of kids' meal toys tied to the film. They were met with some controversy after the film received a PG-13 rating from the

Motion Picture Association of America The Motion Picture Association (MPA) is an American trade association representing the five major film studios of the United States, as well as the video streaming service Netflix. Founded in 1922 as the Motion Picture Producers and Distri ...

(MPAA). Burger King executives claimed this caught the company by surprise as they were led to believe the film would receive no higher than a PG rating. According to Joe Dante, the MPAA gave the film a PG-13 rating due to the scene in which the Commando Elite put drugs in Phil and Marion's drink. While the pamphlet accompanying the toys included the disclaimer "While toys are suitable for children of all ages, the movie ''Small Soldiers'' may contain material that is inappropriate for younger children," some restaurants accepted an exchange for Mr. Potato Head toys.

Video Games

Four video games were released in 1998: * '' Small Soldiers'' -

PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a di ...

(

) * ''Small Soldiers: Squad Commander'' - PC ( Hasbro Interactive/ DreamWorks Interactive) * ''Small Soldiers'' -

Game Boy The is an 8-bit fourth generation handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on April 21, 1989, in North America later the same year, and in Europe in late 1990. It was designed by the same te ...

( THQ/ Tiertex Design Studios/ DreamWorks Interactive) * ''Small Soldiers: Globotech Design Lab'' - PC (Hasbro Interactive)

Cancelled remake

A remake of ''Small Soldiers'' was in development by

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film studio, film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm o ...

called ''Toymageddon''. The script was purchased in January 2014, and director Justin Lin was set to produce the film. The story was described to be set in a "toy factory that begins to run amok." At that time it was not explicitly stated to be a remake of ''Small Soldiers''. Due to the

acquisition of 21st Century Fox by Disney The acquisition of 21st Century Fox by Disney was announced on December 14, 2017, and was completed on March 20, 2019. Among other key assets, the acquisition of 21st Century Fox by the Walt Disney Company included the 20th Century Fox film and ...

on March 20, 2019,

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

later in August cancelled the film along with over 200 other projects, which revealed the film was intended as a remake of ''Small Soldiers''.

References

External links

* * * {{Joe Dante 1998 films 1998 action comedy films 1990s science fiction comedy films 1990s fantasy comedy films Action figures Amblin Entertainment films American action comedy films American science fiction comedy films American fantasy comedy films American science fantasy films DreamWorks Pictures films Films about toys Puppet films Films scored by Jerry Goldsmith Films directed by Joe Dante Films set in Ohio Films shot in Ohio Films with screenplays by Ted Elliott Films with screenplays by Terry Rossio Films about sentient toys Universal Pictures films American robot films American satirical films 1990s English-language films Sentient toys in fiction 1990s American films