Small Soldiers

Small Soldiers centres on Alan Abernathy, the teenage son of a toy shop owner in small-town Ohio, who gets his hands on a new line of action figures made by the defence contractor Globotech. The line is split into two rival groups: the Commando Elite, heavily armed soldiers, and the Gorgonites, peaceful creatures designed to hide rather than fight. Because the figures carry military-grade processors, they come to life, and the Commandos treat their programmed mission to destroy the Gorgonites as real. Alan sides with the Gorgonites, which turns him, his family and his friends into targets as the fighting spreads through the town.

Joe Dante directed the film, released in 1998. It was the twelfth of the sixteen features he has directed in chronological order, following The Second Civil War in 1997 and preceding Looney Tunes: Back in Action in 2003. The screenplay is by Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio and Adam Rifkin, with Colin Wilson and Michael Finnell producing for Universal Pictures, Amblin Entertainment and DreamWorks Pictures. Gregory Smith plays Alan, with Kirsten Dunst, Denis Leary, Phil Hartman, David Cross and Jay Mohr among the cast, part of a credited cast of 31 and crew of 121.

On a reported budget of 40 million US dollars, the film took in about 55 million worldwide. On IMDb it holds 6.3 out of 10 from roughly 111,000 votes, and on TMDB 6.6 out of 10 from around 2,400 votes. A critics' rating of 6.1 out of 10 from 52 reviews places critical and audience responses fairly close together.