Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989)

User Rating:

6.0/10   

Director:

Joe Johnston

Writers (WGA):

Stuart Gordon (story) &
Brian Yuzna (story) ...

Release Date:

23 June 1989 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Comedy | Family | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

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

Plot:

Wayne Szalinski is your average "nutty scientist", working on a top secret machine which miniaturizes objects...

Plot Keywords:

Scientist | Bee | Inventor | Shrinking Machine | Shrinking

Awards:

Won BAFTA Film Award. Another 1 win & 10 nominations

Cast

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

Also Known As:

Grounded (USA) (working title)
Teenie Weenies (USA) (working title)
The Big Backyard (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:L | South Korea:All | Portugal:M/6 | Finland:K-10/7 (1989) | Finland:S (1990) | Peru:PT | Australia:PG | Argentina:Atp | Chile:TE | Singapore:PG | Spain:T | Sweden:7 | UK:U | USA:PG | West Germany:6 | France:U

Filming Locations:

Estudios Churubusco Azteca, Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico

Company:

Buena Vista Pictures

Trivia:

The animated short Tummy Trouble (1989) was released theatrically with this movie.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The title is grammatically incorrect. The past tense of 'shrink' is 'shrank'; 'shrunk' is the past participle.

Quotes:

Russell 'Russ' Thompson, Sr.: [about the Szalinskis] Weird family.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase (2001) (V)

Soundtrack:

Turn It Up

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.