This movie doesn't have very much going for it; it's based on a theme that, no matter how you view it, is pretty corny... toy soldier action figures, fighting like real soldiers. Even from the guy behind Gremlins, that's fairly corny. He pulls it off decently enough, though. The action scenes and the various actions of the toys obviously parody various war movies, and this they actually do quite well; the problem is, why make a war movie parody in the form of a teen-oriented movie? Most teens don't care about war movies, since most war movies are from before they were born, along with the wars themselves. Had this film been directed at the adult audience, and gone for social satire instead of simple, weird catchphrase fun, it might have been something much better. The voice work is all very good, there weren't really any of the toys voices that seemed miscast. I really enjoyed Tommy Lee Jones as the leader of the army toys, and Sarah Michelle Gellar did a great job on the Gwendy dolls. Apart from the great voice work, I thought the Gwendy dolls were fairly lame, though. That seemed a little like the director had run out of ideas, and just went with whatever came to mind. I thought the actors all did a pretty good job, I especially enjoyed Jay Mohr, David Cross and Phil Hartman. Unfortunately, the film has more low points than high points; the romance between the two main characters seemed unlikely and bland, like it was just thrown in for the effect. Also, apart from of course the basic idea of thinking action figures, the film has too many unrealistic scenes to be taken even the least bit seriously. Too much of the humor seems forced, only fairly little of it actually has the effect it's supposed to have on the audience. I also thought the whole idea of having the soldier figures build weapons out of power tools and the likes was a decent enough idea, it just lacks any good explanation of how they manage to build such impressive firepower from so little, and this actually bothered me so much that I at times sat there, being generally annoyed at a scene based on such an unrealistic premise rather than entertained by it. Half of the film goes slowly by, with few laughs, little action and very little excitement. The climax is decently made, and fairly entertaining, but all in all, this is just one of those films that you'll watch, and then pretty much forget about. It doesn't really have anything memorable. Even the effects look dated already. They might have been impressive back then, but they look so fake now. I recommend this only to fans of war movies who want to see a decent spoof of it, and maybe kids and teenagers who can accept a decent comedy. 6/10
Review of Small Soldiers
