SMALL SOLDIERS 1998
A film review by Timothy Voon
Copyright 1998 Timothy Voon
0 :-) out of 4 for the abuse of toys
Cast: Gregory Smith, Kirsten Dunst, Jay Mohr, Kevin Dunn, Phil Hartman, voices of Tommy Lee Jones, Frank Langella. Screenplay: Gavin Scott, Adam Rifkin and Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio. Producers: Michael Finnell and Colin Wilson. Director: Joe Dante
What promised to be entertaining kids fun, in the name of TOY STORY, turned out to be a disappointment, with a scary twist. What if your favourite toys - Care Bears, Barbie dolls, G.I. Joes, Power Rangers or Transformers were to come to life and start attacking you?
The story begins with a group of toy soldiers who have been electronically designed to interact with children and each other. Unfortunately, state-of-the-art military-defence CPUs, are mistakenly introduced into the toys. So it is not surprising that they take a life of their own, and begin World War III in your backyard. This is where safety ends and mayhem begins, as small soldiers make weapons of destruction that can kill a human being – nail guns, bombs and vehicles wielding sharp utensils. It's surprising that no one actually gets killed in this movie. It's no longer as simple as a kid choking on a lego block - these toys fight back. It is sad that SKG has to resort to guerrilla tactics and the abuse of toys, in order to gain an audience. Changing a toy into a weapon and representing it to a child is highly irresponsible. It is one thing to make toys in the image of warfare and quite another, to make it workable.
If I were a child, I would have nightmares about my toys coming to life and hurting me. The prime example, is when a girl's collection of ‘Barbie' dolls, come to life and attack her. If you ever had an inclination to pull a doll's head off, think again, these miniature demons can do the same to you! There isn't a strong moral lesson at the end of the movie - the bad toys are destroyed and the good toys sail away into the horizon. Unfortunately, because this movie needed a good explanation in order to give some meaning to the mayhem it causes. Not recommended for young, sensitive mind's who want to keep their sanity about user friendly toys.
Timothy Voon
e-mail: stirling@netlink.com.au
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