Small Soldiers

Small Soldiers (1998) is an action/science-fiction film, directed by Joe Dante.

Story

Heartland Playsystems is the latest acquisition for Globotech Industries. Everyone at Heartland is fired except for the two people that developed the recent and most popular toy in Heartland's history, Larry Benson (Jay Mohr) and Irwin Wayfair (David Cross). Gil Mars (Denis Leary), the head of Globotech, pays a visit to Heartland to see what Heartland has to offer. Irwin pitches the Gorgonites, peaceful aliens who are curious and want to learn, prompting children to learn with them. Larry pitches the Commando Elite, highly trained and effective soldiers. Mars says that he wants action figures that really do what the commercials show them doing. Mars also wants an enemy for the Commando Elite, and the Gorgonites will do.

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Mars insists on a quick time to market, and Larry is willing to promise delivery. Larry uses Irwin's password ("Gizmo") and orders surplus military microprocessors ("X 1000") from Globotech supplies. The "X 1000" has the ability to learn, within the limits of the base programming. Forgoing any product testing, the action figures are delivered to market on time for the planned product launch.

Related Topics:
Password - Surplus - Military - Microprocessor

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Alan Abernathy has been expelled from two different schools, though the rumors say ten. His parents moved to New Braunfels, Texas hoping to start over. His father, Stuart, owns a toy store where there is nothing electronic and no war toys. Stuart is going out of town to a small-business seminar and has left Alan in charge when a toy delivery arrives. Alan sees the boxes containing the Gorgonites and the Commando Elite, and convinces the truck driver to leave a complete set of each. They open the packages and activate the leaders of each side, then the truck driver leaves, saying that he'll lose the delivery paperwork.

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Christy Fimple arrives at the toy store with her little brother, Timmy, to pick out some toys for his birthday. Timmy wants Hazard and Archer, so Alan sets them aside in the storage room. Alan and Christy talk for a few minutes, but then her boyfriend arrives on his motorcycle and she and her brother leave.

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When Alan returns to the storage room, Major Chip Hazard (Commando Elite) has cornered Archer (Gorgonite). Alan takes the weapon away from Hazard and replaces both action figures back into their respective packaging. Alan sets all of them up along a wall in the toy store. He then notices that his father's airline ticket has been left in the store, so he hurries home with it. After he gets home, he discovers that Archer has stowed away in his backpack.

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That night, Hazard breaks out of his packaging and activates the rest of the Commando Elite. Hazard gives a rousing speech in front of a flag puzzle, reminiscent of the one from the movie Patton. The Commando Elite are then seen, apparently, destroying the Gorgonites.

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When Alan arrives at the toy store in the morning, most of the store has been trashed. All he can find of the Gorgonites is a destroyed Freakenstein, but there is no sign of the Commando Elite. Christy shows up shortly thereafter and helps him clean up. They finish just before Alan's dad, Stuart, arrives. Christy sneaks Archer out of the store in Alan's backpack. Stuart discovers the broken mast on a toy ship and send's Alan home. Christy gives Alan back his backpack with Archer.

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Unbeknownst to Alan, the Commando Elite have been watching the store for any sign of Archer. When Alan rides home on his bike, they follow him far enough to find out where he lives. During the night, they lure Archer out of Alan's room by imitating the other Gorgonites. They have set up for an interrogation in the Kitchen. But Alan is awakened and manages to save Archer and drive off the Commando Elite, mortally wounding one of them. Since the commandos were asking Archer where the rest of the Gorgonites were, Archer knew that they hadn't been destroyed.

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Alan and Christy, who lives in the house behind his, go to the toy store in the morning to search for the rest of the Gorgonites. Archer says that "They are doing what they do best. Hiding." Serendipitously, Alan thinks of looking in the dumpster out back, where they find the rest of the Gorgonites. The Gorgonites have even managed to repair Freakenstein, in a way. Alan takes all of the Gorgonites home with him.

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The Commando Elite had tapped the phone lines and found out about Alan and Christy's relationship. The commandos drug Christy's parents with sleeping pills. The commando's then capture Timmy, tie him up and leave him in a closet. They use the "X 1000" from the commando that Alan had destroyed in the kitchen to animate (in a scene reminiscent of the Frankenstein movies) all of Christy's Gwendy dolls. When Christy arrives home with her boyfriend, the Gwendy dolls quickly capture Christy. When her boyfriend hears her screams, he comes to rescue her and quickly runs away after being attacked.

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The commandos force Christy to make a hostage video that demands that the Gorgonites be surrendered to them. Alan delivers the Gorgonites in a cardboard box, bringing the commandos out to destroy them. Alan sneaks in the back way (with the help of Archer) while the commandos are destroying the Gorgonites. Alan makes it upstairs before the commandos discover that the box is only a decoy. But the Gwendy dolls have been left behind to guard the hostage. Alan fights off the Gwendy dolls while Archer frees Christy. The three of them fight off the rest of the dolls and make their escape.

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Christy, Alan and Archer make their escape on Christy's motorcycle while the Commando Elite pursue them on commando-built vehicles. The protagonists escape by making a jump over a stream while the Commando Elite are destroyed in a ball of fire.

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The Abernathys and the Fimples are at the Abernathy house arguing over the damage at the Fimple house, when Alan and Christy arrive. Alan and Christy try to explain what happenned, but their parent's won't believe them. Larry and Irwin, from Heartland Toys, arrive during the argument. Irwin had believed Alan's telephone call about how the Commando Elite were acting and had come to take them back.

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However, Major Chip Hazard has survived the fireball and floated down the stream to Toy World. A full recall had been made and Hazard finds a delivery truck full of Commando Elite action figures. He threatens the driver and has him drive the truck to the Abernathy house. There, the Commando Elite declares war on the Gorgonites and all of the humans currently in the house. What follows is a battle to the death between the two sides. Archer even convinces the Gorgonites to fight. In the end, the Commando Elite are all destroyed, using their one weakness.

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Mr. Mars arrives in the morning. He has his assistant pass out checks to hush things up. Mars then proposes that they add a few zeroes to the price of the Commando Elite and sell them to some rebels in Central America.

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While cleaning up his back yard, Alan discovers that the Gorgonites had all survived. They want to search for their home, Gorgon. They set out on a ship in a river in Yosemite National Park. Alan is the only human there when they set off.

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