Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989)

The scientist father of a teenage girl and boy accidentally shrinks his and two other neighborhood teens to the size of insects. Now the teens must fight diminutive dangers as the father searches for them.

Director:

Joe Johnston

Writers:

Stuart Gordon (story), Brian Yuzna (story),

Stars:

Rick Moranis, Matt Frewer, Marcia Strassman

Won 1 BAFTA Film Award. Another 1 win & 10 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Rick Moranis	...	Wayne Szalinski
Matt Frewer	...	Russell 'Russ' Thompson, Sr. (Big Russ Thompson)
Marcia Strassman	...	Diane Szalinski
Kristine Sutherland	...	Mae Thompson
Thomas Wilson Brown	...	Russell 'Russ' Thompson, Jr. (Little Russell Thompson) (as Thomas Brown)
Jared Rushton	...	Ronald 'Ron' Thompson
Amy O'Neill	...	Amy Szalinski
Robert Oliveri	...	Nick Szalinski
Carl Steven	...	Tommy Pervis
Mark L. Taylor	...	Donald 'Don' Forrester
Kimmy Robertson	...	Gloria Forrester
Lou Cutell	...	Dr. Brainard
Laura Waterbury	...	Female Cop
Trevor Galtress	...	Male Cop
Martin Aylett	...	Harold Boorstein

Storyline

Wayne Szalinski is your average "nutty scientist", working on a top secret machine which miniaturizes objects. When it unexpectedly starts working, he's so amazed he forgets to tell his family to be careful. And when they wander into his lab...

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Plot Keywords:

scientist | laser | backyard | shrinking machine | bee | 

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Taglines:

The most astonishing, innovative, backyard adventure of all time!

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Genres:

Adventure | Comedy | Family | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 June 1989 (USA)

Also Known As:

Grounded

Filming Locations:

Beverly Hills, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$18,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$130,724,200 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Buena Vista Pictures, Doric Productions, Silver Screen Partners III

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This is one of three films released in 1989 to feature an animated title sequence. The other two are National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation and Troop Beverly Hills.

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Goofs

When Nick and Russ are on the bee, when the bee flies back down and hits the blades of grass, before Nick and Russ fly off a harness can be clearly seen on Nick for a few frames.

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Quotes

Amy Szalinski: [about the Thompsons] Weird family.

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Connections

Featured in Shameful Sequels: Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves (2012)

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Soundtracks

"Fire"
Written by Jelani Jones and Wade Stallings
Performed by Jelani Jones with Planet 10

User Reviews

Fond memories of those summer days when it was too hot to go outside

Leave it to Disney to give us a friendly mad scientist in the form of Rick Moranis, who plays an affable, amiable absent minded professor family man by name of Wayne who's latest invention, kept in the attic, is designed to shrink things down. Alas, he's not having much luck with it, as his initial test subject, an apple, gets blown up. Later, one of his neighbor's sons, Ron, hits a baseball through Wayne's window while he's out at giving a science presentation and when Ron's older brother Russ sends him to fetch it with Wayne's son Nick they get shrunk thanks to the baseball whacking the machine. When Russ goes up with Nick's older sister Amy they get shrunk too, along with a chair and Wayne's thinking couch. Unfortunately, a frustrated Wayne, unaware of what's happened, comes home and demolishes his machine and accidentally throws out his kids and his neighbor's (Matt Frewer of TV's Max Headrome fame) with the garbage. It is not until Wayne starts cleaning up the attic that he discovers the shrunken couch and chair (which he steps on) and realizes that his missing kids were shrunk by it and that he threw them out with the trash. So while Wayne embarks on a series of unsuccessful attempts to find his kids without stepping on them, the kids must make a dangerous trek through the uncut back yard, encountering "giant" toys, food, bees, ants, lawnmowers and, strangely enough, a scorpion (someone's escaped pet?).

Good fun, and a lot less cynical than a lot of today's youth oriented adventure films. And of course, the message of family values and how it's important for dads to understand their kids in addition to spending time with them, is also present, but never overly preachy.