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7

"I think WWII was my favorite war."

A film that investigates the ways we sell war to young boys under the guise of "action" by having action figures literally ingest the brutal policies and tactics of the American military ("How could they be dangerous? Everything on 'em are standardized!") due to ludicrously overt corporatism and militarism—the enemy line of "monsters" they create to affirm the existence of the army ones are even pacifists, simply seeking a homeland. Dante expertly weaves the cutesy domestic Spielberg movie with the use of war movie tropes/imagery to create a microcosm that is at once disarmingly adorable (every wide shot of an intricately designed makeshift vehicle traversing a lawn is hilarious) and genuinely horrifying.

As…

2

I feel bad for anyone who hasn't seen this as a kid.

5

78

A desecration of hollow, toothless American values. Joe Dante is as sharp as ever in this mix of militarized corporate absurdity and cartoon seige picture. He has such a knack for small-scale mayhem, and the effects are top-tier: you hardly see the seams.

4

“What’s the matter kid, don’t you like nine inch nails?”

*fires nailgun*

Review by adambolt ★★★★ Liked

A casual reminder that if the toys from Toy Story wanted to they could probably kill us all

1

"We have met the enemy, and he is you!"

you know that sneaking suspicion you had that corporate/military hegemony was slowly supplanting your rights and accumulating your property?

87

If I had a dollar for every time Phil Hartman played the annoying neighbor in a late 90’s comedy about the dangers of consumerism I’d have 2 dollars💵. Which isn’t much but it’s weird it happened twice😁.

(jingle all the way👍) Anyway, the 2nd of my classic Boxing Day double feature.
It’s super fun. Like Gremlins fucked Toy Story.🔫

Not much more to add but campy B-movie vibes. I thought this was straight horror as a kid.😆
Anyway, wocka wocka watch it if you like goofy fun!🦵🏻 I’m spaced.

4

English Version below🟠🟢🔵

Wo andere Dinosaurier-Fans und Enthusiasten völlig logisch wie nachvollziehbar neben den unzähligen Bilderbüchern über den T-Rex, den Allosaurus, den Ankylosaurus, und sowohl über den Brachiosaurus wie meinem heimlichen Favoriten, dem Velociraptor (aber bitte ungefiedert) zu den auf Film gebannten und dadurch neue Facetten erreichend in dem Erlangen einer so noch nie bekommenen Greifbarkeit innerhalb dieser guten einhundertzwanzig Minuten durch „Jurassic Park“ griffen, war ich es der sich schätzen konnte eine kleine erlesene Godzilla-Auswahl von den 60ern bis in die 2000er Jahre mein Eigen nennen zu können mit den sehr präsenten VHS-Covers wie den eher verschwommenen Erinnerungen an deren Käufe mit den über die Schulter blickenden Eltern.

Selbiger Mainstream unterwanderte ich mit der damals auf dem ORF 2…

8

All Gorgonite Scum Must Die.

Did another episode of e1's Pop that Corn about this Joe Dante VHS classic.

One of my favorite parts of this movie is that they got several of the surviving cast of the Dirty Dozen (Borgnine, George Kennedy and Clint Walker) to voice The Commando Elite. All I can think about is if Cassavetes has lived long enough or if Bronson had said yes to voicing a toy.

49

“Small Soldiers” teaches children valuable life lessons about: conflict resolution, sharing, and the social degradation resulting from an unchecked military industrial complex. 

Joe Dante’s movie about toy commandos that come to life was widely critiqued on release for being too frightening for its kiddie target audience. 

Well, you know what else is frightening, children? War. 

You don’t get to play with the toy plastic guns unless you know what the real things do, so director Dante is here to give the youngins an education on militaristic imperialism. 

This is not, at all, a glib take on Dante’s talking action figure flick. It is, without exaggeration or satire, the actual message of “Small Soldiers,” which features battling figurines who are strapped…

1

"It's a baton death march!"

The big budget children's entertainment of the 1990s is the savage attack on American values of the 21st century. I would have been 10 when I saw this in theaters (I it was the first time I heard anyone use the expression "it sucks"), and at the time I was surprised to see the titular soldiers revealed to be the villains of the piece, but I was too young to really appreciate the (barely) subtext about consumerism, capitalism, militarism, and the disgusting babies the three make together. This is about a giant, unambiguously evil corporation selling a false narrative to kids, about heroic soldiers who are actually bloodthirsty dunderheads fighting against evil monsters who…

7

“If you can't accessorize, PULVERIZE!”😵

I forgot the origins of why I double feature this & ‘Running Scared’ every December 26th but I keep doing it😁. Works for me🤷‍♀️. I think everyone should do it🔋. Classic!