Small Soldiers
Promotional poster
Directed by	Joe Dante
Written by	Ted Elliott Terry Rossio Adam Rifkin Gavin Scott Uncredited: Anne Spielberg
Produced by	Michael Finnell Colin Wilson Uncredited: Steven Spielberg[1]
Starring	Kirsten Dunst Gregory Smith Jay Mohr Phil Hartman Kevin Dunn Denis Leary Frank Langella Tommy Lee Jones
Cinematography	Jamie Anderson
Edited by	Marshall Havey Michael Thau
Music by	Jerry Goldsmith
Production company	Amblin Entertainment
Distributed by	Dreamworks Pictures (US/Canada) Universal Pictures (International)
Release date	July 10, 1998 (1998-07-10)
Running time	110 minutes[2]
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$40 million
Box office	$54.7 million[3]

Small Soldiers is a 1998 American science fiction fantasy action comedy film directed by Joe Dante and written by the screenwriting duo of Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, alongside Adam Rifkin, Gavin Scott, and an uncredited Anne Spielberg. Produced by Amblin Entertainment and distributed by Dreamworks Pictures in the United States (and Universal Pictures internationally), the film revolves around two teenagers who get caught in the middle of a war between two factions of sentient action figures, the Gorgonites and the Commando Elite.

The film opened theatrically on July 10, 1998 and received mixed critical reviews while still being a moderate box office success.^[3]

The film begins with GloboTech Industries acquiring the Heartland Toy Company. CEO Gil Mars (Denis Leary) tells remaining toy designers Larry Benson (Jay Mohr) and Irwin Wayfair (David Cross) to develop actual live-action toys capable of "playing back". Mars selects Larry's action figures, the Commando Elite, for the project and Irwin's educational toys, the Gorgonites, for their enemies. After Mars sees a commercial showing the toys doing activities they are incapable of doing, he accuses them of false advertising, saying GloboTech delivers on what it promises. Mars then orders Benson to have the toys on the shelves in three months acting just as they do in the commercial or get fired. Faced with such a tight deadline, Benson forgoes safety testing, then uses Irwin's password and chooses GloboTech's overly powerful, X1000 intelligent AI munitions microprocessor integrated circuit to control the toys.

Teenager Alan Abernathy (Gregory Smith) signs off for a shipment of the toys at his family's toy store without his father's (Kevin Dunn) consent. He and delivery driver Joe (Dick Miller) activate the leaders for each group - Archer (voice of Frank Langella) for the Gorgonites and Chip Hazard (voice of Tommy Lee Jones) for the Commando Elite. Alan's neighbor and love interest, Christy Fimple (Kirsten Dunst), buys Chip as a birthday present for her younger brother Timmy (Jacob Smith). After Archer sneaks to Alan's home in Alan's backpack, Alan realizes Archer is sentient, but in the meantime, the Commando Elite awaken and apparently destroy the Gorgonites in the toy store. Alan calls the company and fills in a complaint. Later, when Larry and Irwin listen to Alan's voice mail, Irwin is terrified to discover the X1000 were designed for military purposes; they head to the facility were the chips are made, learning the AIs evolve over time. However, the chips can't stand an EMP since the shielding required to protect the chips was not cost-effective.

Meanwhile, Chip and his squad pursue Alan to his home and attempt to kill him and Archer; unlike Archer, the Commandos don't understand they're just toys. Alan is attacked by Nick Nitro (voice of Clint Walker), whom he mortally wounds. The next day, Alan and Archer find the rest of the Gorgonites in a dumpster at the shop. At home, Alan learns the primary goal of the Gorgonites is to seek their homeland Gorgon, which they mistakenly believe to be in Yosemite. The Commandos, aware of Alan's interest in Christy upon intercepting a phone call occurring between them, decide to take her hostage. They invade the Fimples' house, incapacitate Christy's parents with sleeping pills, tie up and gag Timmy and place him in a closet, turn Christy's collection of Gwendy dolls into auxiliaries and finally capture Christy herself after she returns home from a date. The Commandos send a video message to Alan, telling him to surrender the Gorgonites.

Alan and Archer distract the Commandos and sneak into the Fimple house to save Christy, who they find tied to a chair with her mouth duct taped. Alan is unable to rescue Christy after he's attacked by Gwendy dolls. Archer cuts Christy loose from her bonds. She proceeds to rip the duct tape off her mouth and finish untying herself. She and Alan then get revenge by using metal pipes to destroy most of the Gwendy Dolls who kidnapped Christy and took her as a hostage. She warms to Alan for his courage and thanks him with a long and passionate kiss. 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 Commandos.

Alan and Christy return to his house, only to find Christy's parents, Phil (Phil Hartman) and Marion (Wendy Schaal), and Timmy, are there and are waiting for them. Phil accuses Alan of drugging them, locking their son in the closet, vandalizing their house, and kidnapping Christy. When Alan and Christy tell the truth, Phil refuses to listen. As Christy, Phil, Marion, and Timmy are trying to leave Alan's house, Irwin and Larry arrive and seek out Alan. At that moment, Chip returns and attacks the house with the Commandos from Joe's truck, equipped with large numbers of improvised vehicles and weapons, and a battle breaks out between the Commandos and the humans inside, cutting off the house's electricity supply.

During the battle, the humans learn they can fry the toys' chips with an EMP blast. Alan heads out to destroy a nearby power line 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 so it can charge up enough to destroy the Commando Elite. The normally peaceful Gorgonites exit the house and fight back against the Commando Elite. Chip flies to the top of the power line 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 power line, triggering the EMP blast which kills Chip along with all of the remaining Commando Elite.

The next day, while the police and firefighters are cleaning up, Mars arrives in his helicopter. He pays Joe, the Fimples, and the Abernathys for damages as well as buying their silence from the media, and orders Larry and Irwin to prepare the Commando Elite for sale to military forces in South America. Among the craziness of the aftermath, Alan and Christy part on highly amicable terms, and Alan later discovers that the Gorgonites have screened themselves from the EMP blast by hiding underneath the Fimples' large satellite dish. The film ends with him accompanying 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 as he watches them sail away.

The film featured Hartman's last role in a major film before his death. The film is dedicated to his memory.^[4]

Dern, along with Kennedy, Borgnine, Brown, and Walker, all cast members from The Dirty Dozen, provided voices for Commando Elite toys (Dern replaced another Dirty Dozen star, Richard Jaeckel, who died before shooting began).

A soundtrack 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. Kenner Products (a subsidiary of Hasbro) produced a line of toys, which featured all of the Gorgonites and Commando Elite. Burger King teamed up with the film to promote their new product, the Rodeo Burger. They also created a line of Kids Meal toys tied to the film. They were met with some controversy after the film was classified with a 'PG-13' rating from the MPAA. Burger King executives claimed this caught the company by surprise and they were led to believe the movie would receive no higher than a 'PG' rating. While the pamphlet accompanying the toys included the disclaimer "While toys are suitable for children of all ages, the movie Small Soldiers may contain material that is inappropriate for younger children," some restaurants accepted an exchange for Mr. Potato Head toys.^[5]

Also, a special livery race car for Bobby Labonte was intended to be raced on July 4, 1998 at the Pepsi 400, which was to run on CBS primetime television. Because of the Florida wildfires, the car was instead raced three months later at the Winston 500 NASCAR race (October 11) on ESPN, where the car (a restrictor plate car) would have been used next.

Small Soldiers opened theatrically on July 10, 1998 in 2,539 venues and earned $14,047,592 in its opening weekend, ranking third in the domestic box office, behind fellow newcomer Lethal Weapon 4 and previous weekend overhaul Armageddon.^[6] The film ended its run on November 19, having grossed $54,682,547.^[3]

The film received mixed reviews from critics. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 48% rating, based on 44 reviews, with an average rating of 6.2/10.^[7]

• List of American films of 1998
• Killer toys

Wikiquote has quotations related to Small Soldiers.

• Small Soldiers at IMDb
• Small Soldiers at Box Office Mojo
• Small Soldiers at Rotten Tomatoes