In this tepid remake (rehash?) of the same themes from his 1984 "Gremlins," Joe Dante proves once again to be one of Hollywood's greatest purveyors of in-jokes about movies and the movie business, but a hack filmmaker nonetheless. Violent, aimless, gratuitous on several counts, poorly acted (the kids are alright, but the adults act, well, childish. Even poor Phil Hartman turns in a laughably stiff performance, his last, and the multi -talented Ann Magnuson and Cheri Oteri--of SNL fame--are woefully wasted), and with all the dramatic energy of a battle between mismatched armies, even the special effects are poorly rendered in this, Dante's 13th feature film. Yes, Dante's inferno has some clever moments, even an impressive first 10 minutes, but after this snap-crackle-pop open its all downhill from there. Way downhill...
Review of Small Soldiers
