What's that? You didn't know? You think I'm crazy? There is no way in Hell the creators of the Re-Animator movies, would ever create a Disney backed family friendly science fiction adventure? Well they did, go ahead look it up.
This all started in the late 80s. Stuart Gordon whom had kids at this point of his career wanted to show them what he did for a living, but was worried showing them his early work would traumatize them. So he and his long time co-worker/friend Bryan Yuzna created a story titled Teenie Weenies. Which later got changed to Honey I Shrunk The Kids. He was originally gonna direct, but due to an illness, he dropped out. With Disney replacing him with Joe Johnston, whom you may know as the guy who jump started the Captain America side of the MCU Franchise.
While I've seen this movie many times, up until a couple years ago I had no idea Gordon and Yuzna created this. At the time I first watched this, I was around 4 - 5 years old and nothing about it at the time to me, screamed horror. I thought maybe I was simply easily unfazed. However at my current age of 30, watching this knowing what I know now, it offers a unique perspective which I will get to after the review.
Before I talk about the movie, there is one elephant in the room I want to get out of the way.
Much like most kids in the 80s and 90s, I first saw the movie through VHS. And it came with a short called "Tummy Trouble." So along with watching this movie for the first time, I got a first glimpse of the world of Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Which I also heard was shown in theatres as a means of reminiscing about the shorts shown in local theatres. From what I've heard, many people only bought the movie just to see that short. The short was the first of three. Second if you count the opening short of the movie. The other two being Roller Coaster Rabbit which was on Dick Tracy and Trail Mix-up which is on A Far Off Place. However I won't review these as Gordon and Yuzna were not involved in it.
The movie revolves around two sets of characters. Two Families to be exact. You first have Thompsons an average, somewhat dysfunctional family comprised of the Patriarch Russ Sr. Played by Matthew Frewer, Mae played by Kristine Sutherland, Russ Jr. played by Thomas Wilson Brown and Ronald Thompson played by Jared Rushton. In an effort to bond with both kids, Russ Sr. tries to take them out camping and fishing. Ron is all for it, but Russ Jr is at that point in a teenager's life trying to search for his "thing". Not to mention having a crush on a certain girl next door. However things turn upside down thanks to some quirky neighbours. The Szalinskis. There's their Matriarch, Diane played by Marcia Strassman, their kids Amy and Nick played by Amy O'Neil and Robert Oliveri. Finally we have the patriarch the one man whom without, this movie would be nothing: Wayne Szalinski played by Rick Moranis. Think of him as like a more of a toned down, family oriented version of Herbert West. Someone who means well, but his obsession with his work nearly becomes the ruin of his family and others. In this case, he is an inventor and while he's no slouch in the gadget department, a far cry from inventor characters who's gadgets often seldom or don't work at all. For example, they have a working Remote Control Lawnmower and a Solar Powered coffee machine. The invention he's tinkering with? The Shrink Ray. By his theory the machine is supposed to compress the empty space between molecules which in turn is supposed to make the object or life form smaller. However, the problem is, that each thing he tests on explodes. As shown when he turns an apple into apple sauce, in an attempt to shrink it. Since his work requires him to be a stay at home dad save for the occasional consultation of fellow inventors, Diane is the breadwinner. A real estate agent, whom despite her love for Wayne, it is all but said, that their marriage is on the rocks, due to his obsession with inventing. Meanwhile Nick and Amy cope in their own ways in the typical 80s style. With Nick trying to be more like his dad and Amy, trying to be the more normal teen of the family. Engaging in dates at the mall and hanging out with friends.
Save for the occasional feud between the two based on Wayne's tinkering disrupting the neighborhood, The Thompsons and Szalinskis keep to themselves and get on with their normal lives. That is until Ron screws things up. While Wayne is out trying to pitch his invention and Diane is out trying to show a house, Amy is left alone to babysit Nick while she waits for her date. Ron was doing some solo batting practice when he hits his baseball in the attic window of the Szalinski household. Which wouldn't be such a big deal, just pay for the damages and be on your way right? Wrong. For the attic is where the Shrink Ray is being housed and the ball activated it before getting into the path of the laser. The havoc causing it to shoot at Wayne's Chair and Thinking Couch. Russ Jr. drags Ron to the household both to get his ball back and to try to sweet talk Amy, whom he has a huge crush on. Nick and Ron go in the attic looking for the ball only to be the first to get shot by the machine. At first we are all lead to believe that rather than blow up, that the machine disintegrated them and the furniture. That is until Amy and Russ Jr. show up to check on Nick and Ron only to be shot themselves. Shrinking them down to 3/4 of an inch tall. Or as Ron puts it, the size of boogers. Wayne comes home after being a laughing stalk among the science community and the kids try to get his attention. Only for him not to hear them. As if that wasn't enough, he gets mad at the machine and smashes it to bits, preventing them from going back to normal size. Just when things can't possibly get any worse, he sweeps up the remains accidentally sweeping the kids up with them. Putting them all in a garbage bag which is thrown out in the back yard for pick up. Using a discarded piece of glass, the kids get out to find that their typical backyard in the perspective of a shrunken person is a massive jungle and it would take days just to get to the back porch.
The movie then divides it's time between the adults and the kids as they make their way. Both the Szalinskis and the Thompsons realize their kids are missing and try to call the police for help, but to no avail. Wayne finds out that his machine worked and most importantly the kids have been shrunk and he accidentally threw them out to his horror. He searches the trash bag to find it's been cut open, causing him to deduce that the kids are in the backyard. While he tries to search for them the kids deal with their own problems. Their first plan was to whistle for their dog Quark, however while it works, Quark is petrified of the Thompson cat, who keeps scaring Quark away. In an attempt to find high ground, they all climb a flower only for Nick to fall in. Which in turn attracts a bee who captures him. Russ Jr. rides the bee with him as they hang on for their lives. However said bee causes Wayne to swing at it with Ron's baseball bat nearly killing them. (Which leads to the events above in him figuring out what happened to the kids.) Which in turn seperates Russ Jr. and Nick from Amy and Ron. In an attempt to search for the kids, Wayne accidentally turns on the sprinkler. Which in the kid's POV has them nearly bombarded by meteor sized water droplets. Amy and Ron find Nick and Russ Jr., but Amy nearly drowns in mud after the next drop causes her to fall. Russ Jr. rescues and revives her using CPR he jokes to Nick about learning from French Class.
Wayne comes clean to Diane about what may have happened at first prompting her to faint, but they both work together to find the kids. Worried they may not be able to cover more ground, they tell the Thompsons what happened, using the couch as proof. However neither one believes them and due to poorly worded mention of the machine blowing things up before, Russ Sr. finally has enough and threatens Wayne. Implying that he will slowly tear him to pieces with an air hammer if he finds out Wayne is responsible for what happened to his kids.
The kids find an oatmeal cookie in the middle of the yard and feast on it to stay alive. Only to run into a baby ant. They're scared at first, but they realize that not only is it harmless, but it also is attracted to pieces of the cookie. Which they use to turn it into a makeshift sled dog, which Ron affectionately names Antie. They find a lego which they use for shelter and Russ confesses his crush on Amy, which she seems to reciprocate. Ron tries to make Antie leave, as they don't need it anymore, but Antie had grown fond of the kids and wants to stay with them. However their shelter is short lived when a scorpion attacks them. While I was unfazed by some of the more horrific stuff surrounding this, I can no doubt tell you, that this Scorpion is fucking scary. Not just because of the design, which could also apply to the Bee prop and the prop they used to make Antie, but this thing was sadistic. It didn't just try to kill the kids, it tormented them. Seeming to want Ron as it's first meal. His screams don't go unnoticed though as Antie comes in to save him. While Antie manages to get the Scorpion's attention and effortlessly dodge and get a few hits in, the Scorpion eventually overpowers and kills Antie. Prompting the kids to go berserk and fight it off. Scaring it away and even presumably killing it with a well timed spear shot. This made me sad back then because I didn't know at the time that Scorpion's were venomous and merely thought it simply stabbed Antie to death with it's stinger. Knowing now made me even sadder.
Wayne works tirelessly to repair the machine while the kids nearly make it to the back porch. However an unexpected horror approaches. Early on in the movie, Nick had this friend Tommy, who he shows the remote control Lawnmower to. In exchange for a box of cookies, Nick let Tommy use it next time he come over. This was especially funny because although the Lawnmower was cool and all, he basically conned a kid into paying him for free labour. Naturally Tommy wasn't around to see Nick and the others get shrunk so he shows up to play around with the lawnmower as Wayne and Diana rest. They hear the Lawnmower and stop him just in time but the force of the winds it created caused them to fly a foot or two away from the porch, putting them in the halfway point. However, as luck would have it, Quark finds them and they grab onto his fur. I loved this because unlike most movies where the pet would consider the shrunken person as food, Quark is the exception. He doesn't attack or try to eat the kids. Instead does everything he can to help them. Just as Quark was about to get to the Doggy door, he is blocked by the Thompson Cat. However Quark is in no mood to take the cat's shit anymore and for once remembers he's a dog and dogs chase cats. He growls and chases off the cat and gets into the house. He tries to alert Wayne and Diane that the kids are on his back, but his reckless jumping causes Nick to fall into Wayne's bowl of Cheerios. Quark stops Wayne just in time as he almost eats Nick and Wayne finally finds the kids. He brings them all to the attic and brings the Thompsons over, proving they are shrunk. However while the machine is fixed, it still runs into the same blow up problem. Using Charades, the kids clue them in that the Baseball was what caused it. Wayne figures out that the reason the baseball works was because, before, the laser was giving too much heat which caused things to explode. So using the Baseball and Russ Sr. as a test subject, Wayne finally sees for himself that the Shrink Ray works. The movie ends with The Szalinskis and The Thompsons becoming friends and presumably patent partners as the celebrate with enlarged food. Before the credits roll, Nick finally gets Russ Jr.'s joke.
The movie was exactly how I remember it, but having watched Gordon's horror work, it gave ma a whole new perspective on it. He made this movie to be like a kid-friendly version of his usual works. The effects used for the monsters could very well fit in with such movies like From Beyond and to top it off much like Re-Animator, it's all about a scientist trying to perfect his work almost at the cost of others. The movie itself could very well fit in the Re-Animator universe, like Doctor Who and Torchwood.
The movie was successful enough to warrant 2 sequels. The first being Honey, I Blew Up The Kid, which deals with Wayne accidentally growing his baby boy Adam. The second being Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves. Which for once focused more on what would happen if the adults got into the same hi-jinx as the kids.
The less said about Allison Mack the better.
Actually no. I may as well say it while I can. I first saw her in that very movie before she became famous as Chloe Sullivan on Smallville. Sullivan was not just one of my favourite characters, but she was so popular that DC Comics made a version of her in their universe proper, much like they did with Harley Quinn after her debut in the DCAU Batman Animated Series. She was literally the definition of a good friend, especially considering her friend happens to be Clark fucking Kent. What was Mack like after Smallville ended? She became a mastermind of some sex trafficking cult. That was shocking enough. However what really shocked me is despite all evidence showing that she was primarily responsible for these women getting kidnapped, raped and sold on the black market, they reduced her 14 year sentence to 3 years, because she claimed to be remorseful. Either she's very smart or the legal system is full of morons, because SHE'S A PROFESSIONAL ACTRESS!!! For all you know she could be faking said remorse. Robin Williams character on Mrs. Doubtfire didn't get as much leeway as Mack did. Double Standards much? This was the same kinda crap that got Karla Homolka out of Jail. Think on that. Ok, mini-rant over.
As well as 3D Interactive Epcot movie called Honey, I Shrunk The Audience, which features Wayne and Nick trying to save the audience from the disasters made by the Shrink Ray. There was also a TV series which expanded on the Hi-Jinx of the Szalinskis whom at this point were not played by the original cast. Mainly because Rick Moranis was retired at this point. With Peter Scolari replacing him. Stuart Gordon even directed a couple of episodes crossing off that goal in his bucket list. Despite the name, the Shrink Ray was rarely used and it mostly involved other Szalinski inventions going haywire. My personal favourite episodes being "Honey There's a Pox on Our house." which is basically Chicken Pox recovery Szalinski style. As well as the Gordon Directed "Honey, Let's Trick or Treat." In which they accidentally bring urban legends to life.
Last but not least, there was talks of a 4th feature film coming out in the series, entitled Shrunk. While not much is known, what is certain is this. Rick Moranis may be returning as Wayne Szalinski, while the movie is mostly revolved around Nick, whom is played this time by Josh Gad. Now the movie itself was announced in 2018, but up to now has been delayed. Mostly due to the Covid-19 pandemic as well as an unfortunate incident regarding Moranis. Just 2 years ago next October, Rick Moranis was assaulted by some punk, while he was on his walk in New York. While he suffered minor injuries, I'm pretty sure he may have needed some time to recover from being randomly punched out. Said punk by the name of Marquis Ventura was arrested over a month later.
This movie is where I think Gordon Peaked as he was able to if only briefly get out of the B-Movie circuit and become an A-Lister. With movies like Castle Freak and Dagon being his return to form.
Stuart, you were one of a kind and neither the world of Lovecraft or Disney will ever be the same without you. Rest in Peace you wonderful sick bastard.
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