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	...	Big Russ Thompson
Marcia Strassman	...	Diane Szalinski
Kristine Sutherland	...	Mae Thompson
Thomas Wilson Brown	...	Little Russ Thompson (as Thomas Brown)
Jared Rushton	...	Ron Thompson
Amy O'Neill	...	Amy Szalinski
Robert Oliveri	...	Nick Szalinski
Carl Steven	...	Tommy Pervis
Mark L. Taylor	...	Don Forrester
Kimmy Robertson	...	Gloria Forrester
Lou Cutell	...	Dr. Brainard
Laura Waterbury	...	Female Cop
Trevor Galtress	...	Male Cop
Martin Aylett	...	Harold Boorstein

Storyline

On the brink of perfecting his state-of-the-art matter-shrinking machine, the suburban paterfamilias and indefatigable inventor, Professor Wayne Szalinski, realises that his device truly works, when it zaps both his kids and their friends. Now, to return to the relative safety of their home while being reduced to a mere quarter-inch size, the minuscule humans must venture out into the dense and perilous landscapes of their now-immense backyard--a hostile environment where nearly everything spells trouble. Can the kids exit the green maze of grass in one piece?

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Plot Keywords:

shrinking machine | sudden change in size | shrinking ray | neighbor neighbor relationship | teenage boy | 

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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

Did You Know?

Trivia

Joe Johnston was a highly respected art director and special effects wizard, but an unproven director with only a student film to his name. When meeting with Jeffrey Katzenberg, he asked him if he was being hired due to that film. Katzenberg replied "No, we're hiring you in spite of your film."

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Goofs

Nick's glasses are impractically durable. He has on more than one occasion while shrunk where they could've been broken in any way, shape and form, especially after being flung in the air not once but twice (from being on a runaway Bee and after nearly being chopped to death by a Lawnmower), his glasses would've had some kind of damage on them, like a scratched or cracked lens or warped out of shape.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Mailman: Good morning, Quark.

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Crazy Credits

The film opens with an animated boy and girl being shrunk and then they are chased by items such as a toaster, a dog, a vacuum, and at the end of the intro, they are trapped in an envelope

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Connections

Referenced in A Bug's Life (1998)

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Soundtracks

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

User Reviews

A very strange adventure/comedy motion picture

"Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" is a quite unusual adventure/comedy film, one of the most eccentric movies of all time. It's one of those live-actions films produced by Disney's studios.

The movie's title refers to Wayne Szalinski, a stereotypical nutty/mad scientist. He invents a machine with the ability of shrinking objects to a size even smaller than ants. This character is portrayed by Rick Moranis, the perfect actor for a role like this (with his intellectual looks).

Rick Moranis is funny as Wayne Szalinski, Matt Frewer is hilarious as the impatient and temperamental "Big" Russell Thompson. The kids also do a good job: Thomas Wilson Brown as the clever "Little" Russell Thompson, Jared Rushton as the paranoid Ron Thompson and Robert Oliveri as the nerd Nick Szalinski. One of the funniest parts for me is when "little" Russell forces his brother Ron to confess that he broke Szalinski's window with his baseball.

The Szalinski kids (Nick and Amy) and the Thompson kids ("Little" Russell and Ron, the Szalinski's neighbors) are accidentally shrunk by the machine and thrown into the garbage by accident. Because they are so tiny, they live a big adventure full of dangers and nightmares (from insects to a remote-controlled lawn mower) until reaching their house, something which would only take seconds on their normal size.

The story becomes a bit odd and of a somehow discussable taste, but it also makes the difference... for good and for bad. However, I must be fair: at least this is a thousand times better than those stupid "Problem Child" movies. Not that they have anything in common, but...

Overall, nothing extraordinary, but amusing, hilarious, great fun, entertaining, original, bizarre and with some funny lines («French class» is just one among many others). There's also a certain 80's charm on it.

The success of this movie inspired a very imaginative 3D film created as an amusement for Disneyland parks around the world called "Honey, I Shrunk the Audience".

Details

Official Sites:

Disney's Official Site

Country:

USA Mexico

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)

Opening Weekend USA:

$14,262,961, 25 June 1989

Gross USA:

$130,724,172

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$222,724,172

Company Credits

Production Co:

Walt Disney Pictures, Silver Screen Partners III, Doric Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1