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

For the scene in which miniaturized Nick Szalinski drops into a bowl of Cheerios cereal, a tank was filled with 16,000 gallons of a milk-like substance made from chlorinated water, food thickener, and pigment. The Cheerios were made from tractor inner tubes, twelve feet in diameter, coated in foam.

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Goofs

Szelinsky realizes at the end of the movie that the laser generating heat is what made his machine fail to work the way he wanted it to. But we see at the beginning of the movie that he uses a cold fluid (assumably liquid nitrogen) to try to maintain the heat inside the machine. So he should have known about this already.

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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 Mike & Mike: Episode dated 3 September 2014 (2014)

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Soundtracks

Theme from 'Amarcord'
Written by Nino Rota

User Reviews

Ridiculous, cute, and fun family entertainment

This is a fun movie for the entire family. Well, of course, it's ridiculous but the kids will love it and you can laugh right along with them.

The absurd tale revolves around around a nutty scientist & dad named Wayne Szalinski who is working on a machine to miniaturize objects. When his two kids plus their two neighbouring friends (the Thompsons) wander into his lab, Wayne inadvertently shrinks the four of them. Then he accidentally tosses them out in the garbage, so the poor kids have to brave the dangers of the lawn to get back to the house. And can the well intended but crazy scientist figure out how to bring the youngsters back to full size again? (Personally, my favourite aspect of the movie is the nutty father.)

The story has plenty of adventure and danger as the teensy weensy younguns brave the perils of the jungle (actually their lawn). They face thunderstorm like risks of potentially drowning in the lawn sprinkler or being attacked by giant ants, bees, & other bugs. Not to mention the lawn mower!

Avoid the TV series of the same name, but this movie has some good family messages involving the two sets of parents (the Szalinskis & the Thompsons) as well as the kids. And of course there's lots of hilarity and adventure. It should be rated higher than it is and fully deserved its popularity at the time. This film put the phrase 'Honey, I shrunk (or whatever) the kids' into people's everyday vocabulary!

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