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Small Soldiers

1998

Joe Dante

Animation, Gregory Smith, Kirsten Dunst, Jay Mohr ...

5.6

19,617

Fantasy. Action. Animation 15-year-old Alan Abernathy, the son of a toy store owner, tries out some new action figures: The Commando Elite vs. The Gorgonites. But three months ago, 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 ... [+]

	Author	Review
United States	Roger Ebert rogerebert.com	"For smaller children, this could be a terrifying experience (...) Funny and entertaining (…) Rating: ★★½ (out of 4)"	NEU
United States	Leonard Klady Variety	"'Small Soldiers' is a muddle of violence and sermonizing that doesn’t achieve its intended comic edge (...) The film never finds the right tone"	NEG
United States	Jonathan Rosenbaum Chicago Reader	"[Dante's] unpretentious fantasy romps have more to say about the American psyche, pop culture, and the ideology of violence than anything dreamed up by Steven Spielberg or George Lucas."	POS
United States	Janet Maslin The New York Times	"The technology here commands more respect and interest than the material otherwise warrants"	NEU
United Kingdom	Caroline Westbrook Empire	"'Small Soldiers' aspires to be rather more than it actually is (...) Nevertheless, there is still much to enjoy (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"	NEU
United States	Peter Travers Rolling Stone	"The story is a rehash of 'Gremlins'"	NEG
United Kingdom	Alan Jones Radio Times	"The movie's slick professionalism and technical brilliance keep the awkward mixture of mirth and mayhem from becoming too uncomfortable an experience (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	Keith Phipps AV Club	"'Small Soldiers' doesn't know what to do with its premise once it's established (...) There are isolated moments of brilliance"	NEU
United States	Paul Clinton CNN	"Short on entertainment (...) Amazing effects (...) The action and the story become very repetitive"	NEU
United Kingdom	Tom Charity Time Out	"Dante set the template for this kind of story with 'Gremlins'. This is much scrappier and more juvenile, though it's sometimes hard to tell if the target audience is under ten or over 30"	NEU

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