Given the immense popularity of 1995's "Toy Story" and its financial success in the theaters, on video, and in action figure toy sales, and combined with the near daily enhancements to what can be accomplished with computer generated graphics, it's of no surprise that another film has come along hoping to catch a ride on the coattails of success.
"Small Soldiers" -- a more violent and adventurous tale that may catch some parents off guard -- however, lacks the fun, charm and most importantly, the originality that the earlier film so easily exuded. Expect decent early returns at the box office, but an otherwise quick trip to the video shelves.
"Toy Story" featured -- among the many other toys -- the little green army men (with their two feet connected to a flat stand) that nearly every baby boomer boy probably grew up with. Sent out on reconnaissance missions, the little characters were an unexpected delight in a movie filled with such pleasures. This film takes that same concept and expands it out to allow toys commonly pitted against each other by young boys to duke it out themselves.
While that idea is intriguing, it doesn't come off as much fun here. In the earlier film, the fact that the toys were alive was a magical condition that was merely hidden whenever humans were around and, for the most part, the toys only interacted with other toys in their own little toy world.
Here, the toys are powered by military computer chips and have no problem interacting -- or attacking their much larger human counterparts -- it's like the Chucky doll from "Child's Play" being possessed by the Pentagon instead of an evil spirit. What it's more like, however, is a combination of "Toy Story" with an earlier film, 1984's "Gremlins," also helmed by this picture's director, Joe Dante.
Dante (who also directed "Inner Space" and the fabulous third segment, "It's a Good Life" from "Twilight Zone: The Movie") has created a picture that's similar in both tone and structure to "Gremlins." Both feature a teenage boy and girl who must deal with a small band (army) of bad creatures (toy soldiers) that wish to do harm to humans as well as the good creatures (Gizmo and the Gorgonites).
The screenplay by Gavin Scott, Adam Rifkin, Ted Elliot & Terry Russio also goes so far as to copy certain elements from that earlier film such as having the good creatures being mesmerized by TV shows and having the father leaving town at a crucial moment during the story. Likewise, the little bad guys use power tools as weapons, and knock out the power to the house they're attacking.
There's also a way for more of them to show as reinforcements (although it's nowhere near as ingenious as the "just add a drop of water and you've got more" plot of "Gremlins"). Finally, the humans figure out a way to kill all of the attacking forces in one fell swoop, just like in the earlier picture.
What this film is ultimately missing in comparison to Dante's early work, however, is the perilous journey through something nearing the zany horror of a fun house attraction. As goofy as it got, "Gremlins" had a "Hell's-a-Poppin'" feel all throughout it, while this film feels a little too manufactured for its own good and often seems like more attention went to the special effects than making a fun story. That's clearly evident in any scenes where the toys don't appear, as the momentum grinds to a sudden halt, and the audience gets extremely restless (at least at our screening).
Most of that is due to the fact that, like the stiff toys represented in the film, the human-based roles have been molded into cookie cutter, plastic-like characters with little personality that could easily have been interchanged within the existing cast, or played by any number of other performers. Gregory Smith ("Krippendorf's Tribe") and Kirsten Dunst ("Jumanji"), for instance, are likeable, but don't do much more than exactly fill the shoes of similar characters played by Zach Galligan and Phoebe Cates in "Gremlins."
Jay Mohr ("Jerry Maguire") and the late Phil Hartman (TV's "Saturday Night Live" and "News Radio") are pretty much wasted in their small roles, but Tommy Lee Jones ("Men in Black," "The Fugitive") does have a fun time voicing Chip Hazard and playing off his now stereotypically deadpan, take charge persona. Likewise, the vocal talents of George Kennedy, Ernest Borgnine, Jim Brown, and a host of others are put to good use as the voices of various toys populating the story.
Despite the film's problems and lack of any core originality, there is some fun to be had. The special effects are most obvious, and the ILM (Industrial Lights & Magic) computer generated material as well as the animatronic work done by Stan Winston ("Jurassic Park") is outstanding and nearly always seamless with the live action footage. In addition, Dante has also managed to throw in many jokes (some which work better than others) for both the kids and the adults in the audience.
Film buffs will enjoy the duel homage paid to the "Frankenstein" movies, a brief but funny bit where Chip Hazard addresses his troops while standing in front of a puzzle-pieced American flag (like George C. Scott in "Patton") and a take on a scene and an infamous saying from "Apocalypse Now."
While it's not a spectacular film by any means, the story -- despite its lack of originality -- is adventurous enough to please its target audience and perhaps those who've been reluctantly dragged along to see it. Featuring some spectacular special effects -- so much better to sell the action figures (although kids will be as disappointed as the character played by Denis Leary in that the figures don't do what they did in the film/commercials) -- the movie has just enough fun to marginally make it worth recommending. We give "Small Soldiers" a 5 out of 10.
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