Small Soldiers

• Cat.no: PLFEB 37891
• Cert: PG
• Running time: 105 minutes
• Sides: 2 (CLV)
• Year: 1998
• Pressing: 1999
• Chapters: 17 (8/9)
• Sound: Dolby Surround
• Widescreen: 2.35:1
• Price: £19.99
• Extras: trailer (16:9)
  

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  Director:

  Joe Dante

Cast:

Kirsten Dunst, Gregory Smith, Jay Mohr, Phil Hartman, Kevin Dunn,David Cross, Ann Magnuson, Denis Leary, Dick Miller, Robert Picardo,Wendy Schaal

Voices:

Tommy Lee Jones, Bruce Dern, Ernest Borgnine, Jim Brown, GeorgeKennedy, Clint Walker, Frank Langella, Christopher Guest, MichaelMcKean, Harry Shearer, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Christina Ricci

Whentheir employer Heartland Play Systems is taken over by multimillion weaponsconglomerate Globotech, incoming CEO Gil Mars (Leary) pressures top toydesign team of hard-talking Larry Benson (Mohr) and warm-hearted IrwinWayfair (Cross) to come up with a new moneyspinning product line. Fast.Riding roughshod over Wayfair’s misgivings, Benson orders Globotech’s X-1000chips off the web, puts them into the duo’s untested soldier action figuresthe Commando Elite and ships them out to toy stores all over the US.

Cut to Winslow Corners, Ohio. Idealistic, anti-war toy Mr.Abernathy (Dunn)is away on business from his suburban toyshop The Inner Child when teenage sonAlan (Smith) takes delivery of a shipment of Commando Elite – and rivalline of peaceful Gorgonite mutant foes – from truck driver Miller. Both setsof toys possessing X-1000 learning capabilities, come midnight the CommandoElite (voiced by leader Jones, comms man Dern and the cast of TheDirty Dozen – Borgnine, Brown, Kennedy, Walker) break out of their boxesto hunt down and destroy the Gorgonites (lead voice Langella – switchingfrom his usual bad guy persona – and Spinal Tap trio Guest, McKean andShearer) who abandon their packaging to hide.

With two girl’s dolls remade and remodelled as fighting females recalling ToyStory’s mutant reconstructions (voices: Ricci and Gellar),live action bit parts from Magnuson, Dante regular Picardo andthe late Hartman (as Abernathy’s obnoxious, home cinema-obsessedneighbour), not to mention the effects expertise of Stan Winston and ILM,it’s a potent mix falling both technically and thematically somewhere in betweenToy Story’s jerkily CGI animated Bucket O’ Soldiers and director Dante’s ownGremlins’ small-town-decimating animatronics.

Suddenly we’re in a world where foot tall toys are running around launchingprojectiles at houses and laying waste to the locality. Astute observationsabout childhood under the onslaught of modern marketing methods run almost asrife, but not without giving human and toy characters space to breathe andtake stock.

When, at the end, Alan puts the surviving Gorgonites on a little raft in thenature reserve lake that was programmed as their collective memory image ofhome, it’s a moment of genuine charm and a gentle reminder that not allHollywood cinema has to be merely testosterone-driven and marketing-led. Forall its apparent slam! bang! and kiddie fodder subject matter, such momentsraise this a cut above the usual mainstream American fare.

Given this film makes much use of the 2.35:1 framing, with charactersfrequently placed on one or the other side of the frame, the PAL disc’swidescreening is essential. Pioneer’s beautiful transfer scores fullmarks in this department and manages a near perfect sidebreak whichcommences side 2 with Hartman’s speech on his newly installed homecinema system! There’s also a terrific Dolby Surround sound mix packingthe wit to posit the Spice Girls’ “Wannabe” as an effective tool ofpsychological weaponry.

Chaptering on the disc is adequate if sparse, although a trailer is included.There being no sign yet of any Dreamworks SKG titles on Region 2 DVD, this PALLD is clearly welcome as it may help keep the dying format alive just a littlelonger. On the other hand, not being able to freeze frame the image is ratherannoying.

Film: 5/5
Picture: 5/5
Sound: 5/5