The Cinematheque

“An often-overlooked childrens’ movie … Dante’s critique of multinational monopolization resonates even more today than it did in 1998.”

Nadine Smith, Little White Lies

Who runs the world? Joe Dante’s sincerely satirical and action-packed mini-blockbuster posits the plain and uncomfortable truth that toy manufacturers and war profiteers are often in the same business: developing new ways to keep kids hooked on what they’re advertising. These dark intentions are far from the mind of young Alan (Gregory Smith) and Christy (Kirsten Dunst), the (mostly) responsible kids entrusted with helping out at the local toy store. The street-corner shop is independently owned by Alan’s family and aspires to only stock toys that foster imagination rather than violence. But through a bit of scheming, Globotech’s new line of soldiers vs. aliens end up on the shelf, develop sentience, and break out into the real world. For Dante, Pixar’s Toy Story and all-American brands like Barbie are the enemy; the E.T.-like Gorgonites and CD-ROM encyclopedias stand as allies.

“Wicked and wise … A summer kids’ movie that’s rude enough to suggest that the emotions and fancies underlying the make-believe war games boys like to play are not so different from the sentiments and fabrications underlying real wars.” Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader

preceded by

Toys
Canada 1966
Grant Munro
7 min. DCP

This NFB-produced short cuts between the two sides of a shop window. On one side: an audience of children. On the other: stop-motion animated toys, including a squadron of soldiers.

“A seminal but underrecognized animator … Grant Munro brought a wicked wit and sublime grace to the art.”

Laurence Kardish, MoMA