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Post by janntosh on Jun 1, 2021 20:49:37 GMT
 Movie directed by Joe Dante about toys that come to life that released in the summer of 1998. Kind of what DreamWorks answer to Toy Story and one of those "Edgy" type of family movies. Flopped at the box office but has a cult following First off does anyone notice how similar the plot structure of this movie is to Transformers which came out 9 years later? It's like someone at DreamWorks when making the Transformers movie thought, we can just reuse the same basic plot of Small Soldiers for this. Hell, Kevin Dunn plays the dad in both movies! Personally I think this movie is way better than Transformers and also Joe Dante's own Gremlins. A super fun movie with a great cast and a nice blend of animatronics and CGI (that doesn't look that bad even today) and a memorable Jerry Goldsmith score. Though has a kid I rooted for the Commando Elite because they were so much cooler. Tommy Lee Jones provides his only voice role he has ever done I think and I would love to see footage of him in the recording room.
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Post by FridayOnElmStreet on Jun 1, 2021 20:52:21 GMT
7/10 Fun movie.
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Post by kolchak92 on Jun 1, 2021 20:58:52 GMT
It was sort of Toy Story Meets Gremlins, but not as good as either.
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Post by theravenking on Jun 1, 2021 21:54:06 GMT
In an episode of the Stephen King anthology series Nightmares & Dreamscapes William Hurt has to fight a group of toy soldiers who were sent to kill him.
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Post by novastar6 on Jun 1, 2021 22:12:40 GMT
I LOVED this movie as a kid. One summer we were planning for my sister to bring her two young boys, and I said we could show it to them, and I was outvoted on the matter because it was PG-13 and might be too intense for them...I couldn't figure out what the hell they were talking about, it was a fun movie.
It's currently on a double feature DVD with the lesser remembered 80s movie Explorers.
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Post by Prime etc. on Jun 1, 2021 23:17:09 GMT
First off does anyone notice how similar the plot structure of this movie is to Transformers which came out 9 years later? It's like someone at DreamWorks when making the Transformers movie thought, we can just reuse the same basic plot of Small Soldiers for this. Hell, Kevin Dunn plays the dad in both movies! Yes I noticed the similarities.
Although Masters of the Universe 1987 has the same plot too. I assume that's why Langella was cast in it.
I regret not seeing Small Soldiers in a theater when it came out. The reviews were so bad I skipped.
I liked it--kind of typical Hollywood saccharine boy meets girl subplot that Joe Dante seems to specialize in--I think it worked better in Matinee---he didn't have to work at all for her to be interested in him-and only because he was a notorious prankster in schools? But other than that and Phil Hartman being wasted--the small soldiers stuff was good and the soundtrack. It was neat in the opening because you see rapid prototyping technology. And the inventor scenes were funny.
They should have done the sequel that Dennis Leary suggested--sending the soldiers into a country as a weapon.
"There will be no mercy."
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Post by Prime etc. on Jun 1, 2021 23:19:06 GMT
It's currently on a double feature DVD with the lesser remembered 80s movie Explorers. I hated Explorers. I regret seeing that in a theater. I was expecting something different.
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Post by Mulder and Scully on Jun 1, 2021 23:20:04 GMT
Such an enjoyable movie. Great voice work by Tommy Lee Jones.
And certainly better than those awful Transformers movies.
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Downey
Junior Member
@hunter
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Post by Downey on Jun 2, 2021 9:21:21 GMT
Good movie.
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mgmarshall
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@mgmarshall
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Post by mgmarshall on Jun 3, 2021 11:12:03 GMT
I was obsessed with this movie for a little while as a kid. I tried to collect all the action figures, I had the 12 inch talking Chip Hazard, I even had a Small Soldiers-themed birthday cake one year. And I was also the only kid I knew who even remotely liked the movie at all.
I have revisited it as an adult, though it's been a number of years now, but I remember still really enjoying it. It's really kinda batshit, and irreverent in the way pretty all of Joe Dante's work is. It's one of those movies like Batman Returns that almost feels like one giant practical joke played on the studio; like Joe Dante just somehow tricked Dreamworks into sinking $40 million into what was clearly a psychotic B-movie that was then only slightly re-tooled and marketed to children at the last minute. I love when a movie like this happens; and given the iron-fisted control the corporate execs have over all the big blockbusters nowadays, this kind of movie probably can't happen anymore...
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Post by Vits on Jun 3, 2021 12:12:15 GMT
7/10
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Post by sostie on Jun 3, 2021 12:24:23 GMT
Noticed the Small Soldiers/Transformers similarity when I first saw the latter. Small Soldiers is better on every level.
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Post by JudgeJuryDredd on Jun 4, 2021 2:24:11 GMT
First off does anyone notice how similar the plot structure of this movie is to Transformers which came out 9 years later? It's like someone at DreamWorks when making the Transformers movie thought, we can just reuse the same basic plot of Small Soldiers for this. Hell, Kevin Dunn plays the dad in both movies! Yes I noticed the similarities.
Although Masters of the Universe 1987 has the same plot too. I assume that's why Langella was cast in it.
I regret not seeing Small Soldiers in a theater when it came out. The reviews were so bad I skipped.
I liked it--kind of typical Hollywood saccharine boy meets girl subplot that Joe Dante seems to specialize in--I think it worked better in Matinee---he didn't have to work at all for her to be interested in him-and only because he was a notorious prankster in schools? But other than that and Phil Hartman being wasted--the small soldiers stuff was good and the soundtrack. It was neat in the opening because you see rapid prototyping technology. And the inventor scenes were funny.
They should have done the sequel that Dennis Leary suggested--sending the soldiers into a country as a weapon.
"There will be no mercy."
Um, how is it the same plot? The Gorgonites do not want war with the Commando Elite and just wish to find a place they can call home, they are not looking for a magical item that grants god-like abilities, and both Gorgonites and the titular small soldiers are literal toys not beings from outer space.
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Post by Prime etc. on Jun 4, 2021 2:28:14 GMT
Um, how is it the same plot? The Gorgonites do not want war with the Commando Elite and just wish to find a place they can call home, they are not looking for a magical item that grants god-like abilities, and both Gorgonites and the titular small soldiers are literal toys not beings from outer space. Plot: Two sets of magical (toy-merchandised) beings in conflict with each other have a showdown in suburbia and youths are caught in the middle.
That is the basic plot.
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Post by JudgeJuryDredd on Jun 4, 2021 2:32:42 GMT
Um, how is it the same plot? The Gorgonites do not want war with the Commando Elite and just wish to find a place they can call home, they are not looking for a magical item that grants god-like abilities, and both Gorgonites and the titular small soldiers are literal toys not beings from outer space. Plot: Two sets of magical (toy-merchandised) beings in conflict with each other have a showdown in suburbia and youths are caught in the middle.
That is the basic plot.
But they are not magical, they are brought to life through scientific means. The action also stays completely in suburbia and nowhere else. Not only that but the Commando Elite think they're the good guys but they see no wrong doing based on their programming.
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Post by Prime etc. on Jun 4, 2021 2:49:08 GMT
But they are not magical, they are brought to life through scientific means. The action also stays completely in suburbia and nowhere else. Not only that but the Commando Elite think they're the good guys but they see no wrong doing based on their programming. The Transformers and Masters of the Universe are also scientifically based--the latter has laser guns and technology as well as the magic sword. But the sense of magic is in all three. The Gorgonites want to go home--that's their programming. But going home is important in the Transformers story and Masters of the Universe.
If you remember correctly, the chip that was used was a special military one--it was capable of self-awareness learning.
Actually, they could have ended the movie with a scene in a jungle somewhere and the Commando Elites going after enemy soldiers as a final joke. Did they really need to end with the boat going off into the forest--they could have added the Commando Elite side of it for the ending.
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Post by JudgeJuryDredd on Jun 4, 2021 3:07:08 GMT
But they are not magical, they are brought to life through scientific means. The action also stays completely in suburbia and nowhere else. Not only that but the Commando Elite think they're the good guys but they see no wrong doing based on their programming. The Transformers and Masters of the Universe are also scientifically based--the latter has laser guns and technology as well as the magic sword. But the sense of magic is in all three. The Gorgonites want to go home--that's their programming. But going home is important in the Transformers story and Masters of the Universe.
If you remember correctly, the chip that was used was a special military one--it was capable of self-awareness learning.
Actually, they could have ended the movie with a scene in a jungle somewhere and the Commando Elites going after enemy soldiers as a final joke. Did they really need to end with the boat going off into the forest--they could have added the Commando Elite side of it for the ending.
Yes, but Masters of the Universe as a franchise generally uses magic more than science in its storytelling and the Cosmic Key is enchanted with magic making it a magical device, the microchip that brings The Gortonites and the Commando Elite to life is still fantastic but not nearly as fantastic a device as the Cosmic Key in that it is dealing with artificial intelligence making it speculatively more believable than Masters of the Universe. But The Gorgonites wanted to return home in peace, they are not designed to fight. In Masters of the Universe He-Man and company need to go back home to stop Skeletor, and in Transformers Cybertron has been turned into a wasteland and their war with the Decepticons has escalated to other planets throughout the cosmos for thousands of years in the end they choose to stay on Earth. All in all the comparisons are vague, so much so that I doubt Frank Langella was hired specifically for Small Soldiers because of their involvement in Masters of the Universe - if that were the case, wouldn't they have sought him for Chiphazard instead of Tommy Lee Jones?
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Post by Prime etc. on Jun 4, 2021 7:26:12 GMT
All in all the comparisons are vague, so much so that I doubt Frank Langella was hired specifically for Small Soldiers because of their involvement in Masters of the Universe - if that were the case, wouldn't they have sought him for Chiphazard instead of Tommy Lee Jones? You are overthinking it. It's about toys and those other movies are also toys. The basic plot is the same. And Langella would have been miscast as an American general-type.
I don't think they picked Langella because he was Skeletor. I think they may have thought of it in casting him for the voice but he wasn't going to be picked for Chip Hazard.
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Post by JudgeJuryDredd on Jun 4, 2021 7:44:04 GMT
All in all the comparisons are vague, so much so that I doubt Frank Langella was hired specifically for Small Soldiers because of their involvement in Masters of the Universe - if that were the case, wouldn't they have sought him for Chiphazard instead of Tommy Lee Jones? You are overthinking it. It's about toys and those other movies are also toys. The basic plot is the same. And Langella would have been miscast as an American general-type.
I don't think they picked Langella because he was Skeletor. I think they may have thought of it in casting him for the voice but he wasn't going to be picked for Chip Hazard.
So if the plot is the same then why is it overthinking if I am calling the statement into question?
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Post by Prime etc. on Jun 4, 2021 8:16:50 GMT
So if the plot is the same then why is it overthinking if I am calling the statement into question? Because it is the same idea as Transformers and Masters of the Universe.
Why do you think they had two sets of toys-so they could have the classic good toy vs bad toy scenario (in reverse-the human ones are the bad guys). One difference is the kid in Small Soldiers was at risk of being killed by Chip Hazard while in Transformers the kid was able to leap onto a giant robot and save the day by direct physical combat with the evil leader.
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