Small Soldiers
Encyclopedia
Small Soldiers is a 1998 American action
/science fiction film
directed by Joe Dante
starring Gregory Smith and Kirsten Dunst
. The film revolves around two teenagers (played by Smith and Dunst), who get caught in the middle of a war between two factions of sentient action figure
s, the Gorgonites and the Commando Elite.
Critical reception of the film was mixed. Critics complimented the film's special effects, but criticized some of the darker aspects of the film, which had been marketed to a young audience.
conglomerate
GloboTech Industries acquires the Heartland toy company, CEO Gil Mars (Denis Leary
) tasks toymakers Larry Benson and Irwin Wayfair (Jay Mohr
and David Cross
) develop actual live-action toys capable of "playing back". Mars selects the military themed action figures the Commando Elite for the project, and educational toys the Gorgonites for their enemies. After Mars forgoes safety testing and sets a short production time, Benson chooses GloboTech's overly powerful intelligent AI munitions integrated circuit
to power the toys.
Teenager Alan Abernathy signs off for a shipment of the toys at his family's toy store without his father's consent. He and a delivery truck driver named Joe investigate the toys, introducing the Gorgonites' leader Archer, and the Commando Elite's leader Chip Hazard. The daughter of Alan's next door neighbor daughter, Christy Fimple (Kirsten Dunst) buys Chip as a birthday present for her brother Timmy. After Archer sneaks to Alan's home in Alan's backpack, Alan realizes that the toy is a sentient being. The Commando Elite awaken and seeming destroy the Gorgonites in the toy store. Chip and his squad pursue Alan to his home and attempt to kill him and Archer. Alan is attacked by Commando Nick Nitro, whom he mortally wounds using a garbage disposal unit.
Alan and Archer find the rest of the Gorgonites in a dumpster outside of the toy store. At home, Alan learns the group seek their homeland Gorgon, which they mistake for Yosemite National Park
. The Commando Elite, aware of Alan's interest in Christy upon intercepting a phone call occurring between them, invade the Fimples' house. They drug Christy's parents with sleeping pills, place Timmy in a closet, turn Christy's collection of Gwendy dolls
into auxiliaries and finally capture Christy herself. They send a video message to Alan, telling him to surrender the Gorgonites or Christy will die. Alan and Archer distract the Commandos and sneak into the Fimple house to save Christy, who warms up to Alan for his courage. They are then pursued down the street by the Commando Elite in heavily armed kit-bash vehicles, but they are all destroyed during the chase - except Chip, who locates Joe's truck full of recalled Commando toys.
At Alan's house, Irwin and Larry seek out Alan after monitoring a phone call from him about the dangerous nature of the toys. Chip attacks the house with an army of Commandos, equipped with large numbers of improvised vehicles and weapons and a battle breaks out between the Commando Elite and the humans inside. During the battle, the humans realize they can fry the toys' chips with an EMP
blast. Alan heads out to destroy a nearby powerline
to overload it and create such a pulse; Christy, Irwin and Larry head to the Fimples' house to turn on all of the electronic items inside and wedge the power transformers open to reinforce the pulse. The normally peaceful Gorgonites then exit the house and fight back against the Commando Elite. Chip flies to the top of the powerline pole to stop Alan, where he briefly battles and defeats Archer. But just as Chip claims victory, Alan seizes Chip and jams him into the powerline, triggering an EMP blast which kills Chip along with all of the remaining Commando Elite and Gwendy toys.
The next day, while the police and firefighters are cleaning up, Gil arrives in his helicopter. He then bribes Joe, the Fimples, and the Abernathys into silence and then orders Larry and Irwin to prepare the Commando Elite for actual military commando missions in South America
for their effectiveness. Amidst the craziness of the aftermath, Alan overdramatically kisses Christy. Alan later discovers that the Gorgonites survived the EMP blast by hiding underneath the Fimples' large satellite dish
and he accompanies them into Yosemite National Park where he sends them out in a large toy boat from his father's store to find their island home of Gorgon.
Bruce Dern
, along with George Kennedy
, Ernest Borgnine
, Jim Brown
and Clint Walker
from The Dirty Dozen
provided voices for the rest of the Commando Elite. An uncredited Jim Cummings
, along with Michael McKean
, Harry Shearer
and Christopher Guest
from This is Spinal Tap
provided voices for the remaining Gorgonites. Sarah Michelle Gellar
and Christina Ricci
provided the voices for the Gwendy dolls.
containing classic rock
blended with hip hop
was released on July 7, 1998 by DreamWorks Records
. It peaked at 103 on the Billboard 200
. The film score
was composed and conducted by veteran composer Jerry Goldsmith
. In addition, a video game based on the film was developed by DreamWorks Interactive and released by Electronic Arts
on September 30, 1998.
.
Action film
Action film is a film genre where one or more heroes is thrust into a series of challenges that require physical feats, extended fights and frenetic chases...
/science fiction film
Science fiction film
Science fiction film is a film genre that uses science fiction: speculative, science-based depictions of phenomena that are not necessarily accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial life forms, alien worlds, extrasensory perception, and time travel, often along with futuristic...
directed by Joe Dante
Joe Dante
Joseph "Joe" Dante, Jr. is an American film director and producer of films generally with humorous and science fiction content....
starring Gregory Smith and Kirsten Dunst
Kirsten Dunst
Kirsten Caroline Dunst is an American actress, singer and model. She made her film debut in Oedipus Wrecks, a short film directed by Woody Allen for the anthology New York Stories...
. The film revolves around two teenagers (played by Smith and Dunst), who get caught in the middle of a war between two factions of sentient action figure
Action figure
An action figure is a posable character figurine, made of plastic or other materials, and often based upon characters from a film, comic book, video game, or television program. These action figures are usually marketed towards boys and male collectors...
s, the Gorgonites and the Commando Elite.
Critical reception of the film was mixed. Critics complimented the film's special effects, but criticized some of the darker aspects of the film, which had been marketed to a young audience.
Plot
After multinationalMultinational corporation
A multi national corporation or enterprise , is a corporation or an enterprise that manages production or delivers services in more than one country. It can also be referred to as an international corporation...
conglomerate
Conglomerate (company)
A conglomerate is a combination of two or more corporations engaged in entirely different businesses that fall under one corporate structure , usually involving a parent company and several subsidiaries. Often, a conglomerate is a multi-industry company...
GloboTech Industries acquires the Heartland toy company, CEO Gil Mars (Denis Leary
Denis Leary
Denis Colin Leary is an Irish-American actor, comedian, writer and director. Leary is known for his biting, fast paced comedic style and chain smoking...
) tasks toymakers Larry Benson and Irwin Wayfair (Jay Mohr
Jay Mohr
Jay Mohr is an American actor and stand up comedian. He is known for his role as Professor Rick Payne in the TV series Ghost Whisperer, the title role in the CBS sitcom Gary Unmarried, which ran from 2008 to 2010, and the back-stabbing sports agent Bob Sugar in Jerry Maguire.-Early life:Mohr was...
and David Cross
David Cross
David Cross is an American actor, writer and stand-up comedian perhaps best known for his work on HBO's sketch comedy series Mr...
) develop actual live-action toys capable of "playing back". Mars selects the military themed action figures the Commando Elite for the project, and educational toys the Gorgonites for their enemies. After Mars forgoes safety testing and sets a short production time, Benson chooses GloboTech's overly powerful intelligent AI munitions integrated circuit
Integrated circuit
An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit is an electronic circuit manufactured by the patterned diffusion of trace elements into the surface of a thin substrate of semiconductor material...
to power the toys.
Teenager Alan Abernathy signs off for a shipment of the toys at his family's toy store without his father's consent. He and a delivery truck driver named Joe investigate the toys, introducing the Gorgonites' leader Archer, and the Commando Elite's leader Chip Hazard. The daughter of Alan's next door neighbor daughter, Christy Fimple (Kirsten Dunst) buys Chip as a birthday present for her brother Timmy. After Archer sneaks to Alan's home in Alan's backpack, Alan realizes that the toy is a sentient being. The Commando Elite awaken and seeming destroy the Gorgonites in the toy store. Chip and his squad pursue Alan to his home and attempt to kill him and Archer. Alan is attacked by Commando Nick Nitro, whom he mortally wounds using a garbage disposal unit.
Alan and Archer find the rest of the Gorgonites in a dumpster outside of the toy store. At home, Alan learns the group seek their homeland Gorgon, which they mistake for Yosemite National Park
Yosemite National Park
Yosemite National Park is a United States National Park spanning eastern portions of Tuolumne, Mariposa and Madera counties in east central California, United States. The park covers an area of and reaches across the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountain chain...
. The Commando Elite, aware of Alan's interest in Christy upon intercepting a phone call occurring between them, invade the Fimples' house. They drug Christy's parents with sleeping pills, place Timmy in a closet, turn Christy's collection of Gwendy dolls
Barbie
Barbie is a fashion doll manufactured by the American toy-company Mattel, Inc. and launched in March 1959. American businesswoman Ruth Handler is credited with the creation of the doll using a German doll called Bild Lilli as her inspiration....
into auxiliaries and finally capture Christy herself. They send a video message to Alan, telling him to surrender the Gorgonites or Christy will die. Alan and Archer distract the Commandos and sneak into the Fimple house to save Christy, who warms up to Alan for his courage. They are then pursued down the street by the Commando Elite in heavily armed kit-bash vehicles, but they are all destroyed during the chase - except Chip, who locates Joe's truck full of recalled Commando toys.
At Alan's house, Irwin and Larry seek out Alan after monitoring a phone call from him about the dangerous nature of the toys. Chip attacks the house with an army of Commandos, equipped with large numbers of improvised vehicles and weapons and a battle breaks out between the Commando Elite and the humans inside. During the battle, the humans realize they can fry the toys' chips with an EMP
Electromagnetic pulse
An electromagnetic pulse is a burst of electromagnetic radiation. The abrupt pulse of electromagnetic radiation usually results from certain types of high energy explosions, especially a nuclear explosion, or from a suddenly fluctuating magnetic field...
blast. Alan heads out to destroy a nearby powerline
Powerline
Powerline or power line may refer to:* Overhead power line, used for electric power transmission* Power line communication, a computer networking technology* Power Line, a political blog* Powerline, a fictional singer in the A Goofy Movie musical...
to overload it and create such a pulse; Christy, Irwin and Larry head to the Fimples' house to turn on all of the electronic items inside and wedge the power transformers open to reinforce the pulse. The normally peaceful Gorgonites then exit the house and fight back against the Commando Elite. Chip flies to the top of the powerline pole to stop Alan, where he briefly battles and defeats Archer. But just as Chip claims victory, Alan seizes Chip and jams him into the powerline, triggering an EMP blast which kills Chip along with all of the remaining Commando Elite and Gwendy toys.
The next day, while the police and firefighters are cleaning up, Gil arrives in his helicopter. He then bribes Joe, the Fimples, and the Abernathys into silence and then orders Larry and Irwin to prepare the Commando Elite for actual military commando missions in South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
for their effectiveness. Amidst the craziness of the aftermath, Alan overdramatically kisses Christy. Alan later discovers that the Gorgonites survived the EMP blast by hiding underneath the Fimples' large satellite dish
Satellite dish
A satellite dish is a dish-shaped type of parabolic antenna designed to receive microwaves from communications satellites, which transmit data transmissions or broadcasts, such as satellite television.-Principle of operation:...
and he accompanies them into Yosemite National Park where he sends them out in a large toy boat from his father's store to find their island home of Gorgon.
Cast
- Gregory Smith as Alan Abernathy
- Kirsten DunstKirsten DunstKirsten Caroline Dunst is an American actress, singer and model. She made her film debut in Oedipus Wrecks, a short film directed by Woody Allen for the anthology New York Stories...
as Christy Fimple - Frank LangellaFrank Langella-Early life:Langella, an Italian American, was born in Bayonne, New Jersey, the son of Angelina and Frank A. Langella Sr., a business executive who was the president of the Bayonne Barrel and Drum Company. Langella attended Washington Elementary School and Bayonne High School in Bayonne...
as the voice of Archer, the leader of the Gorgonites. - Tommy Lee JonesTommy Lee JonesTommy Lee Jones is an American actor and film director. He has received three Academy Award nominations, winning one as Best Supporting Actor for the 1993 thriller film The Fugitive....
as the voice of Chip Hazard, the leader of the Commando Elite. - Phil HartmanPhil HartmanPhilip Edward "Phil" Hartman was a Canadian-American actor, comedian, screenwriter, and graphic artist. Born in Brantford, Ontario, Hartman and his family moved to the United States when he was 10...
as Phil Fimple, Christy's father. This role was Hartman's last role in a major motion picture before his death. The film is dedicated to his memory. - Denis LearyDenis LearyDenis Colin Leary is an Irish-American actor, comedian, writer and director. Leary is known for his biting, fast paced comedic style and chain smoking...
as Gil Mars
Bruce Dern
Bruce Dern
Bruce MacLeish Dern is an American film actor. He also appeared as a guest star in numerous television shows. He frequently takes roles as a character actor, often playing unstable and villainous characters...
, along with George Kennedy
George Kennedy
George Harris Kennedy, Jr. is an American actor who has appeared in over 200 film and television productions. He is perhaps most familiar as the convict Dragline in Cool Hand Luke , airline troubleshooter Joe Patroni in the Airport series of disaster movies from the 1970s and...
, Ernest Borgnine
Ernest Borgnine
Ernest Borgnine is an American actor of television and film. His career has spanned more than six decades. He was an unconventional lead in many films of the 1950s, including his Academy Award-winning turn in the 1955 film Marty...
, Jim Brown
Jim Brown
James Nathaniel "Jim" Brown is an American former professional football player who has also made his mark as an actor. He is best known for his exceptional and record-setting nine-year career as a running back for the NFL Cleveland Browns from 1957 to 1965. In 2002, he was named by Sporting News...
and Clint Walker
Clint Walker
Norman Eugene Walker, known as Clint Walker , is an American actor best known for his cowboy role as "Cheyenne Bodie" in the TV Western series, Cheyenne.-Life and career:...
from The Dirty Dozen
The Dirty Dozen
The Dirty Dozen is a 1967 film directed by Robert Aldrich and released by MGM. It was filmed in England and features an ensemble cast, including Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson, Jim Brown, John Cassavetes, Telly Savalas, and Robert Webber. The film is based on E. M...
provided voices for the rest of the Commando Elite. An uncredited Jim Cummings
Jim Cummings
James Jonah "Jim" Cummings is an American voice actor who has appeared in almost 100 roles. He has appeared in classic animated movies such as Aladdin and The Lion King, as well as taking on roles in more current films, such as Bee Movie, Princess and the Frog, and Winnie the Pooh.-Personal...
, along with Michael McKean
Michael McKean
Michael John McKean is an American actor, comedian, writer, composer and musician, perhaps best known for his portrayal of Squiggy's friend, Leonard 'Lenny' Kosnowski, on the sitcom Laverne and Shirley; and for his work in the Christopher Guest ensemble films, particularly as David St...
, Harry Shearer
Harry Shearer
Harry Julius Shearer is an American actor, comedian, writer, voice artist, musician, author, radio host and director. He is known for his long-running role on The Simpsons, his work on Saturday Night Live, the comedy band Spinal Tap and his radio program Le Show...
and Christopher Guest
Christopher Guest
Christopher Haden-Guest, 5th Baron Haden-Guest , better known as Christopher Guest, is an American screenwriter, composer, musician, director, actor and comedian. He is most widely known in Hollywood for having written, directed and starred in several improvisational "mockumentary" films that...
from This is Spinal Tap
This Is Spinal Tap
This Is Spinal Tap is an American 1984 rock musical mockumentary directed by Rob Reiner about the fictional heavy metal band Spinal Tap...
provided voices for the remaining Gorgonites. Sarah Michelle Gellar
Sarah Michelle Gellar
Sarah Michelle Prinze , known professionally by her birth name of Sarah Michelle Gellar , is an American actress, singer and executive producer...
and Christina Ricci
Christina Ricci
Christina Ricci is an American actress. Ricci received initial recognition and praise as a child star for her performance as Wednesday Addams in The Addams Family and Addams Family Values , and her role as Kat Harvey in Casper...
provided the voices for the Gwendy dolls.
Merchandising
A soundtrackSmall Soldiers (soundtrack)
Small Soldiers and Small Soldiers are the soundtrack and score to the 1998 Joe Dante film Small Soldiers.-Music from the Motion Picture:...
containing classic rock
Classic rock
Classic rock is a radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format features music ranging generally from the late 1960s to the late 1980s, primarily focusing on the hard rock genre that peaked in popularity in the...
blended with hip hop
Hip hop
Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American and Latino communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti writing...
was released on July 7, 1998 by DreamWorks Records
DreamWorks Records
DreamWorks Records was an American record label. Founded in 1996 by David Geffen, Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg as a subsidiary of DreamWorks SKG, the label operated until 2005 when it was shut down...
. It peaked at 103 on the Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
. The film score
Film score
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film, forming part of the film's soundtrack, which also usually includes dialogue and sound effects...
was composed and conducted by veteran composer Jerry Goldsmith
Jerry Goldsmith
Jerrald King Goldsmith was an American composer and conductor most known for his work in film and television scoring....
. In addition, a video game based on the film was developed by DreamWorks Interactive and released by Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts, Inc. is a major American developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of video games. Founded and incorporated on May 28, 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers...
on September 30, 1998.
Reception
Small Soldiers received mixed reviews. It currently holds a 50% of the top critics on Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
.