Why So Blu?

Small Soldiers (4K UHD Steelbook Review)

A Snapshot of 1998: The Year of Wild Ideas – The late ’90s were a strange and wonderful time for movies. It was the same summer that gave us Armageddon, The Truman Show, Saving Private Ryan, and Rush Hour. The box office was saturated with big-budget spectacle, disaster epics, and high-concept comedies. Nestled among these blockbusters was a modest, curious entry from director Joe Dante: Small Soldiers, a film that felt like it straddled the line between Toy Story and Terminator. Though it received a mixed reception upon release, Small Soldiers has since carved out a niche as a cult favorite, especially among those who were kids during its original run.

Film

Plot and Premise: A Warzone in Your Suburban Backyard

Small Soldiers imagines a world where military-grade microchips are accidentally implanted into action figures, turning them into sentient war machines. The story follows Alan Abernathy, a teenage boy who ends up in possession of a new line of toys: the noble, peaceful Gorgonites and their violent enemies, the Commando Elite. When the Commandos decide the Gorgonites are to be eliminated, it kicks off a surprisingly intense suburban siege. What begins as a kid-friendly adventure quickly pivots into something much darker and more satirical than its marketing suggested.

Joe Dante, known for Gremlins, brings the same kind of mischievous energy to Small Soldiers, blending genre tropes with just enough menace to unsettle parents while keeping kids glued to the screen. There’s a clear anti-corporate thread running through the story, as well as jabs at militarism and consumerism—concepts that may have flown over young viewers’ heads at the time but now feel surprisingly relevant.

Reception Then and Now: Misunderstood Toy Box Mayhem

Upon its release in July 1998, Small Soldiers struggled to find its audience. Critics were divided, parents were confused about the tone, and the film’s marketing leaned too heavily into a family-friendly image that didn’t quite match the movie’s more aggressive edge. The PG-13 rating didn’t help either—older teens found it too childish, while younger kids weren’t always allowed to see it. At the time, many felt it was unsure of what it wanted to be.

But like so many oddball ’90s films, time has been kind to Small Soldiers. Rewatching it now, there’s a sharper sense of satire and a stronger appreciation for its practical effects, dark humor, and surprisingly thoughtful character arcs—especially the misunderstood Gorgonites. The cast, including Kirsten Dunst, Gregory Smith, and voice work from Tommy Lee Jones and Frank Langella, gives the film a grounded emotional core that holds up decades later.

Nostalgia Factor: A Glimpse into a Pre-Digital Imagination

Part of the enduring charm of Small Soldiers lies in how tactile and inventive it feels. This was an era before CG overtook everything, and the combination of animatronics, puppetry, and limited digital effects gave the action figures a weirdly lifelike quality. There’s a practical grit to the action scenes, and the suburban battleground feels like a throwback to the days when kids still played in backyards instead of digital spaces.

For millennials who saw the film as kids, Small Soldiers now functions as a bittersweet time capsule. It evokes memories of late-night rentals, action figure battles in the living room, and a time when movies could be weird, niche, and still get a big studio push. That blend of childhood wonder and edgy undertones makes the movie uniquely positioned for rediscovery.

Legacy and Cult Status: More Than Just Toy Story’s Evil Twin

Though it never became a franchise or spawned a cinematic universe, Small Soldiers remains one of the more distinct entries in the late-’90s film landscape. Its themes resonate more clearly in hindsight: the dangers of unchecked tech, the absurdity of militarizing entertainment, and the way corporate decisions affect real people. The film was ahead of its time in ways audiences didn’t fully grasp in 1998.

Today, it enjoys a healthy cult following, especially among genre fans and those who grew up with it. Whether revisiting it for the practical effects, the satirical edge, or just to relive a slice of ’90s movie magic, Small Soldiersdelivers more than its packaging promised.

Final Thoughts: A Toy Story With Teeth

Small Soldiers might not have been the box office hit it aspired to be, but in hindsight, it’s clear that Joe Dante crafted something smarter and edgier than it was ever given credit for. It’s funny, it’s weirdly intense, and it’s got a unique identity that holds up 25 years later. It’s a film that speaks to the chaotic, creative spirit of 1998—and like the Gorgonites, it’s survived, even if it had to do so under the radar.

Video  

Encoding: HEVC / H.265

Resolution: 2160p

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1

HDR: Dolby Vision

Layers: BD-66

Clarity/Detail: Small Soldiers debuts in 4K after a short gestation on Blu-ray, following by 4 short years.  Why the film took so long to reach the Blu-ray format we will never know.  But UHD fans of the film will be happy to see their cult film looking healthy and filmic in the format.  No smoothing or tinkering here! Film grain and practical effects go hand in hand with a clarity we have yet to see in the film at home.  About the only thing to complain about here is the fact that the 90’s CGI employed in the film is now terribly obvious, to the point of being very computerized. If you can get past that, much like I can, this is a great looking transfer!

Depth: Jamie Anderson’s cinematography is exceptionally lensed here.  Clean pans and zooms move freely in the frame with no degradation, blur, judder or inconsistency. Foreground and background transition is nice and healthy with no issues making out fine details in any scenes.

Black Levels: Black levels are deep without going to the depths of crush-land.

Color Reproduction: Autumnal hues are a huge part of the color palette through much of Small Soldiers. There are not a lot of popping colors here, but that’s not the point.  Natural is more the name of this game, and those natural colors look great, with wardrobe and those army fatigues looking excellent throughout.

Skin Tones: Flesh tones are natural for the living characters, with the titular small soldiers looking a little plastic, so to speak.

Noise/Artifacts: None

Audio

Audio Format(s): English: DTS-HD MA 5.1

Subtitles: English SDH

Dynamics: Made for the 2021 Blu-ray, the 5.1 mix for Small Soldiers is surprisingly immersive and dynamic.  While it may not have height extension, the surrounds are busy and the sound is room filling with bass response that digs deep, with nice dialogue reproduction and plenty of room for Jerry Goldsmith’s score to come out and play.  The overall mix is a pleasant surprise for an Atmos guy like me! Sometimes 5.1 mixes do do the trick!

Height: N/A

Low Frequency Extension: Bass extension goes to through the floorboards when needed, feeding the need to vibrate your home during moments of action or lively musical score.

Surround Sound Presentation: Surround channels are surprisingly immersive, working magically with mischievous military and fantasy toys as they wreak havoc on the suburbs.  Music and ambience also benefit from these channels.  The immersion does make one wonder what an Atmos or DTS:X mix could’ve been, but this’ll definitely do the trick with your receiver’s up mixers if you’re not running a soundbar.

Dialogue: Dialogue is perfect rendered here.

Extras

Sadly, the extras included for Small Soldiers are marginal, the type of things that are reserved for movies that studios have fans demand, meaning: recycled antiques from the DVD age. The steelbook packaging, however, is a nice upgrade from the same standard VHS cover we’ve been staring at since 1999. At the time of this writing, this is the only way to acquire Small Soldiers in the UHD Blu-ray format.  The supplements are included with the bundled Blu-ray, itself the 2021 disc, and a digital code is also included.

Special Features:

• A Behind the Scenes Look at the Making of Small Soldiers (480i, 4×3, 11:20)
• From the Cutting Room Floor: Bloopers (480i, window boxed, 4:56)
• Trailer (480i, window boxed, 2:13)

Summary

Joe Dante’s Small Soldiers was a hit or miss film with audiences in 1998.  It won kids over with its PG-13 humor and violence, and annoyed parents with that and its overly childish tone.  The moderate returns made it a near miss for Dreamworks.  When the cult hit status became apparent later on, Paramount finally did the film a solid by re-releasing it on Blu-ray, and now, fans and collectors have a more definitive release of the film looks wise.  Small Soldiers reminds me of another Joe Dante film, Gremlins, which will always be a much better film to me. At the end of the day, I missed this one as a 12 year old, and as a 38 year old, it just didn’t work all the way for me. Fans will love this new edition, though.  Newcomers may want to see it first before committing to a purchase.

Buy Small Soldiers 4K UHD Steelbook HERE