Small Soldiers 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.0

Small Soldiers 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman July 25, 2025

Paramount has released a 4K UHD version of the fan favorite 1998 film 'Small Soldiers,' directed by Joe Dante and starring Kirsten Dunst, Gregory Smith, Jay Mohr, and Phil Hartman. New specifications include 2160p/Dolby Vision video. For this UHD, Paramount has simply repurposed the existing DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack from the 2021 Blu-ray, which is also included in this set. Additionally, no new extras are included. None are on the UHD disc, and only the trio from the Blu-ray are included. This release does, at time of writing, ship exclusively in SteelBook packaging. See below for a review of the new 2160p/Dolby Vision video as well as a few words and photographs of the accompanying SteelBook.

For a full film review, please click here for my thoughts accompanying the 2021 Blu-ray.

Small Soldiers 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Screenshots from the bundled Blu-ray can be found here.

It took Paramount quite a long time to release Small Soldiers to Blu-ray. It was 2021 to be exact, somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 years since the format's debut. It's since taken a while for the film to make it to the UHD format as well, but the wait was worth it. The UHD presentation won't rate as tops on the market, but it's a healthy, satisfying presentation that serves the material well.

The 2160p resolution allows the film to show its wares with sturdiness and accuracy. The image is lightly grainy without any appearance of unwarranted scrubbing. It's handsomely efficient throughout, capturing dense location details, like bedrooms and toy shops, with firm and resolute clarity to all details, but the image satisfies down to the finer points as well. Some of the early close-ups of the soldiers when they're being unboxed in the toy store for the first time show some wonderful detail on their plastic parts and the armor they wear, making the film's key visual delight -- the title characters - - as crisp and precisely defined as ever before, certainly vastly superior to old era DVD resolution and clearly surpassing even the Blu-ray for sheer tangible accuracy and intimate detail gain. The sense of sharpness is terrific here, and of course elsewhere, making the UHD a clear step forward from the 1080p Blu-ray.

I'm not quite as pleased with the Dolby Vision color grading. The colors look slightly flat, mayn't not washed out but sometimes lacking a real sense of tonal saturation and vividness. To be fair, color punch is plainly in evidence in various spots; some of the promotional materials for the toys and the packaging that houses the Commando Elite and the Gorgonites offer good, vivid, punchy reds. That's the highlight. Natural greens, the late 90s attire, and other toys and odds and ends around the toy store find some nice color saturation as well, but I was never deeply impressed with the color yield. It's definitely richer and fuller than the Blu-ray, but in the grand scheme of things I would label the Dolby Vision grading as "adequate" rather than "amazing." This goes for skin tones, too, which can look a little pale and even ghastly once or twice. Black levels likewise can veer slightly flat and pale.

Furthermore, I didn't notice any significant encode problems and the print appears blemish free. It's a solid UHD overall, certainly not tops in the UHD landscape but delivering a healthy and tangible upgrade over the Blu-ray and packing just enough punch to make this a worthwhile addition to any fan's library.

Small Soldiers 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

For a full UHD audio review, please click here for coverage of the existing DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 loses soundtrack that Paramount has recycled for this UHD issue.

Small Soldiers 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The three extras included are listed below. All appear on the bundled Blu-ray disc. There are no supplements on the UHD. For full coverage of the brief supplementary features, please click here. A digital copy code is included with purchase.

• A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Making of Small Soldiers
• From the Cutting Room Floor: Bloopers
• Theatrical Trailer

The SteelBook packaging drifts away from the traditional home video artwork for something new. The image prominently features Chip Hazard and Archer facing off at the top, and again in a smaller silhouette-ish pose above the film's title, slightly below center. A handful of the Commando Elite appear standing below the title. There is a Halo-ish "red vs. blue" color scheme at play in the background as well. The rear panel depicts the X-1000 microprocessor with some electricity flowing out of it, against a predominantly blue background. The spine is a dark blue color with the film's title, center, and a white Paramount logo at the top.

Inside, the digital copy code is tucked underneath the left-hand-side tabs. The two discs, one UHD and one Blu-ray, are situated on the right in staggered-stacked formation. The inner print is a two-panel spread that features more of the "red vs. blue" color scheme, with the "team red" Archer in silhouette on the left and the "team blue" Chip Hazard on the right, both with the X-1000 microprocessor centered in their heads. Some motherboard-y lines run along the backgrounds.

Small Soldiers 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Small Soldiers was, and remains, a fun diversion that doesn't feel quite so groundbreaking today as it did back in the late 90s. It's quaint, maybe, by today's standards, but still with enough charm and action to make it worth a fresh watch under the new UHD parameters. The 2160p resolution is a nice boost, and for the most part the image looks pleasantly filmic. The Dolby Vision color grading is solid, if not unspectacular. No new audio tracks or extras are included, but the SteelBook packaging is superior to efforts of old. Recommended.