Film Review: Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989)

Lack of pretensions can be one of the film’s most important qualities, especially in the realm of family entertainment. One of such examples is provided by Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, 1989 science fiction comedy directed by Joe Johnston.

The plot is set in home of Wayne Szalinski (played by Rick Moranis), talented but not always successful inventor who lives together with his long-suffering wife Diane (Marcia Strassman), teenage daughter Amy (played by Amy O’Neill) and young son Nick (played by Robert Oliveri). His next door neighbour Russell “Big Russ” Thompson Sr. (played by Matt Frewer) lives with his wife Mae (played by Kristine Sutherland), teenage son Russell “Little Russ” Thompson Jr. (played by Thomas Wilson Brown) and his younger brother Ronald “Ron” Thompson (played by Jared Rushton). Wayne has been developing a machine that manipulates molecular structure and allows various objects to be shrunk in size. While he is away, Ron, while playing baseball, accidentally hits Szalinskis’ window and comes to apologise. The baseball, however, has also hit Wayne’s machine and accidentally activated it. As a result, both Szalinskis’ and Thompson’s children are miniaturised and, later, accidentally swept away by Wayne and left in the garbage bag. They come out of the garbage bag but are forced to take long and perilous journey over jungle-like lawn, where they would have to face water sprinkler and gigantic bees, ants and other insects, all in hopes that Wayne would realise what happened and find the way to rescue them from their predicament.

The high concept behind Honey, I Shrunk the Kids isn’t exactly original. It was used by classic 1950s film The Incredible Shrinking Man and only few years earlier in Innerspace. However, in case of this film, it benefited from the approach which could be, unironically, described as “less is more”. The plot setting is more or less limited to two houses in one neighbourhood, characters are limited to members of two families, running time is relatively short. This makes the plot running quickly and smoothly. The film represented directorial debut for Joe Johnston, until that time known mostly for art direction and special effects. The latter is represented in old school pre-CGI technology which is applied with great skill and looks impressive even after many decades. The effects, however, aren’t the film’s main attraction. Johnston allows characters to develop and, therefore, some of the actors truly shine in their respective roles. Rick Moranis probably enjoys one of the rare opportunities to have his nerdy screen personality serve as something close to protagonist, while Matt Frewer is quite credible as his ultra-manly neighbour whose macho demeanour disappears when faced with mysterious disappearance of his children. The young cast is also good, although Amy O’Neill suffers for lack of chemistry with Thomas Wilson Brown, whose character is burdened with obligatory romantic subplot. James Horner’s score is adequate, although it borrows a little bit too many motives from Nino Rota’s Amarcord. Despite the predictable plot resolution and sticking to the formula, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids is well-made and entertaining film that delivers the goods to the targetted audience. It became a surprise box office hit, despite serious competition in Summer of 1989, and later led to couple of sequels, short-lived television series and Disney Park attractions.

RATING: 7/10 (+++)

Blog in Croatian https://draxblog.com
Blog in English https://draxreview.wordpress.com/
Leofinance blog https://leofinance.io/@drax.leo
Cent profile https://beta.cent.co/@drax
Minds profile https://www.minds.com/drax_rp_nc
Uptrennd profile https://www.uptrennd.com/user/MTYzNA

Unstoppable Domains: https://unstoppabledomains.com/?ref=3fc23fc42c1b417
Hiveonboard: https://hiveonboard.com?ref=drax
Bitcoin Lightning HIVE donations: https://v4v.app/v1/lnurlp/qrcode/drax
Rising Star game: https://www.risingstargame.com?referrer=drax
1Inch: https://1inch.exchange/#/r/0x83823d8CCB74F828148258BB4457642124b1328e

BTC donations: 1EWxiMiP6iiG9rger3NuUSd6HByaxQWafG
ETH donations: 0xB305F144323b99e6f8b1d66f5D7DE78B498C32A7