Toy Soldiers (1999) User Reviews

Cereal box toys & the things you do to get them.

[cassie_lu · 9/10 · 10 September 2001]

I saw this short as part of a festival running at a local theater. I don't know how or if you'll be able to find it, but if you do, it is a gem. The basic plot is Al is reminiscing about collecting these 10 toy soldiers that came in cereal boxes when he was a child. As we all know, there is always one toy that is impossible to find. His friend Bryan has one and so Al, of course, hates Bryan. The brilliance of the short film lies in what happens when the 2 people meet up again as adults. The dark humor and wit of this film is fantastic. Al's monotone narration cracked me up. To create actual characters in such a short short film takes real talent. Very impressive and extremely funny.

A great punchline

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 21 January 2009]

This is a very short and simple film about a toy soldier that was included in boxes of cereal when the narrator was a child. Apparently, he had all but one of the set of soldiers and was missing the illusive "Teutonic Knight". Well, his friend had this knight and showed it off to everyone. Little did he know that the narrator would steal it and keep this toy forever--ruminating about it and thinking about his old friend.

Years later, the two adults meet again and, oddly, the conversation eventually turned to that dang toy. And just when you think there's going to be some significance and some resolution to the story, the writer throw an insane monkey wrench into the film--making me laugh at the utter absurdity of it all.

Clever and well-made. This is one of the better independent shorts I've seen lately and it's definitely worth seeing.