Small Soldiers
|
Our Price: $39.94 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $14.99 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
Movie Reviews of Small Soldiers
Movie Review: Gorgo fun
Summary: 4 Stars
Action packed adventure. A movie the whole family will enjoy. I loved all of the Gorgonites. Each one is unique. After watching the movie once, we needed to find it to buy we liked it so much. Had a lot of comedy.Movie Review: IT WAS AN EXCELLENT MOVIE GRAPHICS WERE GREAT
Summary: 4 Stars
TOMMY LEE JONES WAS SURPURB IN THIS ANIMATED MOVIE AND THE GRAPHICS WERE BETTER THAN TOY STORY. THE MOVIE WAS ACTION PACKED, NOT ONE MOMENT DID I LOOSE INTEREST. THIS MOVIE WAS A BIG HIT.Movie Review: Hilarious, entertaining
Summary: 4 Stars
This movies is probably made for my kids, but I loved it too. It is hilarious when enemy of toy soldiers fight the humans! I was *lol*.Movie Review: Struggles To Find Its Audience
Summary: 3 Stars
"Small Soldiers" is a fun idea. Having toys come to life and do terrible/wonderful/comedic things has been visited many times in Hollywood. The only problem with this idea is that there are so many directions you can go with the film that it can lead to a mediocre outcome. For one, you could turn this flick into a horror movie such as "Puppet Master" or "Child's Play," or make it a family comedy such as "Batteries Not Included." Heck, you could have even animated it like "Toy Story." Instead, director Joe Dante and a gaggle of writers decided to make the movie into a middle of the road film. It isn't funny enough to be considered a comedy. There's too much violence and language to make it a children's or family film and it's just not that scary unless you're under the age of eight. This is the major aspect of "Small Soldiers" that holds it back. Had Dante and company cut back on the language and a little bit of the violence, this movie would have been a very fun family film. There's plenty of cheesey dialogue from both the humans and the toys in the film, but all of this is littered with a little bit too much rough language and some violence that just can't be in a family flick. I honestly think that this movie tried too hard to appeal to too large of a demographic.
I remember when this film was released in theaters. I was working my way through college at a toy store in the local mall. "Small Soldiers" had an aggressive ad campaign for the toyline that coincided with the film's release and a lot of parents scooped up "Chip Hazard," "Archer," and other "Small Soldiers" toys. Once many of these parents took their children to see the flick, however, they wanted to return the toys because their kids were afraid to play with them because they thought that they'd come alive. Well, it was obvious from the PG-13 rating that the movie wasn't for youngsters to watch, so I don't fault Dreamworks for this. I do think that they tried to double-dip their audience a little with such an aggressive toy campaign, but ultimately I blame the parents for not researching the movie enough. Unlike some recent films that promoted themselves as "family" movies but turned out to be a flick with heavy political and environmental overtones ("Happy Feet" comes to mind), "Small Soldiers" made it clear that it was not a film suitable for youngsters. Once again, the PG-13 rating should have been warning enough.
The movie has a solid cast. A young Kirsten Dunst, Gregory Smith, Jay Mohr, David Cross, and others provided a likeable group of characters. Denis Leary marched into every scene as if he owned it, and he did. Phil Hartman passed away before the release of the movie, but did a fine job with the role he was given. Overall, I can't complain about any of the actors involved. The toys were voiced by Frank Langella (Archer), Tommy Lee Jones (Chip Hazard), and the men of "This Is Spinal Tap" and the members of the cast from "The Dirty Dozen." All of them did a wonderful job.
The DVD comes with a few special features including the "pat on the back" making-of documentary. The digital transfer is flawless, and I was especially impressed with the almost seamless intertwining of CGI and animatronic characters on the screen.
Overall, I mildly recommend this film to parents with kids over the age of ten. They might actually be a little bored throughout the movie due to an unnecessarily long running time. Had things moved at a faster clip and this movie clocked in at about ninety minutes, I think it would have been much better. If your kids are under ten, do not let them watch this. It's probably going to be too scary for them. Adults interested in special effects will probably want to take a look at this given that it uses CGI when it was still a relatively new artform in cinema. Other than that, don't expect too much from this movie. It's okay, but if you've never seen it before, please rent it before you buy it.
Movie Review: Child's Carnage
Summary: 3 Stars
On the surface, this is a pretty good movie. It's the story of technology gone bad as robotic children's playthings go overboard and decide to start trying to wipe out basically anything in sight. Their supposed enemies, the Gorgonite toys, are peaceful so help the humans stave off the onslaught in a nice action/adventure setting. It has technophobia and adventure, so it's a pretty fun ride at the least.
However, it kind of undermines its own themes in that way. We are treated to a generally high level of technophobia and antimaterialistic ideas ("putting military technology in toys?" "My dad doesn't want any war-toys in his shop") plus a general disdain for the violence in children's entertainment, but then the movie proceeds to be a special-effects bonanza of explosions. In fact, while it seems to be mostly a sort of combined Child's play/Gremlins for children, it turns out to be probably one of the most violent movies they could watch.
Some images are even a little disturbing, such as the Barbie-doll soldiers with their warped faces or the level of carnage that occurs to some of the individual toys. Indeed, it's hard to say quite what demographic this movie is for... probably for kids between the ages of 12 and 15. At any rate, for children younger than that, I'd strongly suggest parental supervision while watching it.
As for the aesthetic values of this film, it's not much on the acting, writing, or directing brilliance, but it certainly is effective at what it does.
--PolarisDiB