Honey I Shrunk the Kids
HONEY, I SHRUNK THE KIDS (U)
D: Joe Johnston
Disney (Penney Finkleman Cox, Brian Yuzna & Jon
Landau)
US 1989
86 mins
Adventure/Science Fiction/Comedy
W: Ed Naha & Tom Schulman
DP: Hiro Narita
Ed: Michael A. Stevenson
Mus: James Horner
PD: Gregg Fonseca
Rick Moranis (Wayne Szalinski), Matt Frewer (Big Russ
Thompson), Marcia Strassman (Diana Szalinski), Kristine Sutherland (Mae Thompson), Thomas Brown (Little Russ Thompson), Jared Rushton (Ron Thompson), Amy O'Neill (Amy Szalinski), Robert
Oliveri (Nick Szalinski)
It feels a shame to say that this 1989 hit now feels
incredibly dated, even more so to say it's dated very badly. It's such a typical, easy-to-enjoy family adventure-comedy from Disney that it almost feels cruel to give it a bad
review.
In 1989, the visual effects carried much of this movie,
but by today's standards, this film could well have been produced in the 1960's and wouldn't look any different. An eccentric inventor creates a shrinking ray which accidentally switches on
when his and the next-door neighbour's kids are in the lab, reducing them to the size of an ant. What makes things worse is when they get swept up with the trash and put in a bin bag at the
far end of the garden, looking more like the Amazon rainforest from their minuscule point of view.
They battle their way back to the house against the titans
of Mother Nature and form an alliance and friendship with each other, when before the next door neighbours didn't see eye to eye. That goes for the parents too.
Despite the effects looking rather poor now, they were
fantastic for it's day and the story and plot delivers what's needed- a nice family film which even young kids will be able to enjoy. Two sequels followed: "Honey, I Blew Up The Kid" and
"Honey, I Shrunk Ourselves", neither of which really did the box office business of this original.
6/10
