`SMALL SOLDIERS,' BIG MONEY.

Byline: - Jennifer Knight

Think small, think real small.

That's what makers of the new Universal Studios summer attraction did when they put together ``Small Soldiers'': Behind the Scenes, which is based on the upcoming film.

According to its makers, the Universal/DreamWorks venture, which opens Thursday at the theme park, boasts the first ever walk-through of a Hollywood movie set coupled with an interactive experience that promises to be ``more kid-friendly than the movie.''

The digitally enhanced action-adventure film, directed by Joe Dante (``Gremlins'') and set for release July 10, tells the life-and-death struggle between two sets of toys - the monstrous-looking yet people-loving Gorgonites and the power-hungry Commandoes, who are accidentally implanted with military intelligence chips and start an all-out war in suburbia.

Universal's video guided tour of the movie set opens into a ``prep room'' (a clinical name for such a gritty movie) and is meant to provide background for those who haven't seen the movie.

Inside the studio's Sound Stage 36 is the original set as it appears in the movie. The tour of the small postwar suburban house is narrated by the film's co-stars, Kirsten Dunst and Denis Leary, and includes scenes tied to two special effects: a puff of smoke cued to a movie clip and an action figure twirling down a garbage disposal coupled with sound effects.

``We didn't want is to be a lecture. We wanted it to be a little more hands-on,'' said David Weiss the project manager for the attraction.

But the hands-on part of the tour comes when the set walk-through dumps out into an arcade room, which offers several venues, including about three dozen play stations that give kids a choice between three different games.

There is also a station where anyone can become part of the movie magic by joining the character Chip Hazard in a chase scene that is inserted into the movie version.

The last stop is one that might make parents cringe - the toy store, the attraction's obvious ploy to get a leg up on merchandising before the movie's release.

``It's not about the movie anymore, it's about the marketing. And more than that, it's about the timing,'' said Norman Kahn, vice president for Universal's entertainment division.

By all accounts, the film features spectacular special effects paired with radio-controlled puppets with digital enhancement from Industrial Light and Magic.

``What's changed is that audiences are smarter now - they expect more,'' said Weiss.

But the interactive quotient in this attraction relies less on the technical and more, well ... on the retail.

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2 Photos

Photo: (1--2) Chip Hazard leads his little troops in ``Small Soldiers,'' an upcoming movie about fighting sets of toys that is being promoted via a ``kid-friendly'' attraction at Universal Studios.