So were born the Commando Elite. A complimentary range of toys designed to drain the wallets of every doting parent who only wants the latest and greatest for their little Johnny.

The animated advertisements for the new range of toy soldiers so excites the new toy-factory owner, he demanded the designers put some life in the toys -- hang the cost.

Several surplus-to-requirements missile-guidance micro processors later, Major Chip Hazard and subordinates are on down town middle-American toy shelves.

Maj Chip Hazard (Tommy Lee Jones) leads the roughest, toughest, meanest bunch of toy-store-shelf misfits God (or the war department) ever breathed life into, against an evil, ugly, heartless band of alien misfits bent on ... well, bent on finding their mother(land).

If there is one lesson to be learnt from this movie, boys and girls, it is that daddy's shed is a very dangerous place, filled with potentially deadly weapons.

Being a mature aged SNAG myself, I thought the plot had a good deal of potential. Unfortunately it didn't live up to that potential for me, but the kids loved it.

I wasn't alone watching this one. A couple of mates and a swag of kids tagged along early one school-holiday Saturday, so I can safely say my opinion was not lop-sided. All the adults were mildly amused while all the kids were enthralled. So, my tiny brain is just a little bit more sophisticated after all.

The sound track wasn't too bad though, with appropriate remixes of War, Another One Bites the Dust and Surrender among others. Which points us nicely at this week's movie give away, below.

My 12-year-old daughter rates it "better than Toy Story".