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Small Soldiers
Dreamworks SKG
2.35:1/16x9/Dolby Digital 5.1
Is it satire? Is it commentary? Is It a kids film? I still don't know and I definitely know the movie didn't. This somewhat interesting and sometimes fantastic film(I'm only going to call it a film because it defies definition) works as simply a very strange actioner. It's all about a new line of toys that have government millitary microchips installed in them. One team of commandos against another team of monsterous characters. The monsters, the Gorgonites, are supposedly "the good guys" in this battle, and soon the toys are shipped out, programmed to battle one another. They first reach a small town toy store where a young boy works. He convinces the driver to let him have a couple of sets of the toys, and of course, the toys get out and start a war in the town. The young boy meets up with a neighborhood girl, and suddenly they're caught in the middle of a war between the two groups of toys. What I was confused about is exactly who is this movie for? Like a nightmarish version of "Toy Story" this film would scare the daylights out of the crowd that enjoyed "Toy Story". The toys in this movie turn on their human owners, using fireballs, saws, knives and nailguns against them.
The script isn't half bad, with some half witty lines when the soldiers recruit a team of barbie-esque dolls to help them in their battle, but unfortunately, the acting from the humans in this film takes the entire thing down a notch. The only actor that registers is Kirsten Dunst, an excellent actress that seems out of place here. Even the soldiers, which are excellently animated, never come off as fully developed characters of their own. It's not hard to believe that these soldiers could be dangerous to humans, the problem is, it's hard to even care about the humans, whose characters are simply too bland. I guess this was all supposed to be satire, but any commentary that it brings to the party is simply obvious. The plot, what there is of one, is a bit unbelieveable, as no one notices toys having a war throughout Smalltown, USA. I would have liked to have been more in the world of the toys, much like "Toy Story" instead of the world of uninteresting humans that populate this particular story. Either way, I wasn't particularly impressed by much besides the FX in this film. It doesn't stick with you much after you leave the theater besides the fact that the amount of violence left me a little confused. Just who is this story about toys for? Definitely not for the kids. The character that Denis Leary plays sums up the film perfectly at the end: "Too bad. This woulda been a great commerical." That's all it is, a commercial for related products from the movie.
The Disc:
Picture: Outstanding. "Small Soldiers" is one of those discs where you say, "this looks better than when I saw it in the theater." Images and colors are bright, crisp and electric in quality. Much like Dreamwork's other title that I viewed, "Mousehunt", contrast is deep and rich giving the film an almost "Super-Film" quality. The image is 16x9 enhanced and has no shimmering or compression artifacts. It's one of the best transfers out there; Dreamworks has done an outstanding job.
Audio: Excellent as well; there is a lot of action in the sound mix when the soldiers start to do battle; some good songs as well as an excellent overall score by Jerry Goldsmith rounds out the quality sound.
Extras:A 10 minute documentary on the making of the film, a very funny 5 minute roll of bloopers, a couple of deleted scenes, a trailer of the Playstation game and the trailer.
Menus:Great animated menus where a character swings across the screen after main menu selection.
Overall: Well, it's definitely a well done disc of a not-so-good film, but even for the great job on the quality of the disc, I don't find enough here to validate paying $34.95 suggested retail price. There are usually more extras on the Universal Collector's Editions for that price, and many more extras on some Warner or New Line special editions that are cheaper. It's not that I don't appreciate the effort put into the picture/sound, it's just that for a Collector's Edition, the extras are a little lacking. And I don't call an ad for a Playstation game an extra. I definitely wouldn't want to watch this film more than once myself, so I'd recommend a rental instead of directly buying it.

Grades:
Picture:A
Audio:A
Extras:B
Film:C-
Menus:A
Overall Disc Grade:B