| Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves | |
|---|---|
 Home video release poster | |
| Directed by | Dean Cundey |
| Written by | Karey Kirkpatrick Nell Scovell Joel Hodgson |
| Based on | Characters by Stuart Gordon Brian Yuzna Ed Naha |
| Produced by | Barry Bernardi |
| Starring | Rick Moranis Eve Gordon Bug Hall Robin Bartlett Stuart Pankin Allison Mack Jake Richardson |
| Cinematography | Ray Stella |
| Edited by | Charles Bornstien |
| Music by | Michael Tavera |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Walt Disney Home Video |
Release date | March 18, 1997 |
Running time | 74 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $7 million |
Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves is a 1997 American science fiction comedy film, and the third installment in the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids film series. The film marks the directorial debut of cinematographer Dean Cundey and was released through Walt Disney Home Video as a direct-to-home video film. The plot tells the story of inventor Wayne Szalinski as he accidentally shrinks himself, his wife, brother, and sister-in-law with his electromagnetic shrink ray.
Rick Moranis returns as Wayne Szalinski, and is the only cast member from the previous films to reprise their role. Eve Gordon replaces Marcia Strassman as Diane Szalinski, and their youngest son Adam, now a pre-teen, is played by Bug Hall. Wayne and Diane's two older children, Amy and Nick, do not appear but are mentioned as having gone away to college and living adult lives. The cast includes Wayne's extended family, including his brother, Gordon, sister-in-law Patti (mentioned in the first film when Diane was on the phone with her looking for Amy), and niece and nephew Jenny and Mitch.
The film is also the first Walt Disney Pictures live-action direct-to-video release, and stands as Moranis' most recent live-action film role, though he would continue to do voice-acting for the next several years. The franchise continued with a television series adaptation, which aired on broadcast syndication.
The film series will continue with the soft reboot Shrunk, which will see Josh Gad play Nick Szalinski, and Moranis will come out of his semi-retirement to reprise the role of Wayne. Joe Johnston (who directed the first film) will also return to direct the sequel.[1][2]
Plot
Eight years after the events of the previous film, ten-year-old Adam wants to go to baseball camp. However, his interest in sports seems almost alien to Wayne, although Diane is more understanding, mentioning Nick loved science camp but Amy preferred Shakespeare camp. Wayne has started his own lab, Szalinski Labs, with his brother, Gordon. One day, they receive tickets to witness a shuttle landing, but Diane reminds him over the phone that he needs to watch Adam and his cousins, Jenny and Mitch, while she and Gordon's wife Patti go on vacation. She also reminds him to get rid of a Tiki Man sculpture they keep in the house that she sees as an eyesore, though he considers it a good luck charm.
After Diane and Patti leave, Wayne and Gordon have activities planned that bore the kids. Wayne sends them to the store, but reveals to Gordon that it is a ruse to get rid of them long enough so that he can use his shrinking machine in order to shrink the Tiki Man without Diane's knowledge, and spare any accidents with the kids. However, after carelessly not turning it off immediately after they succeed, Wayne and Gordon are shrunk when a billiard ball left on it falls onto the activating button, just as they are in front of it searching for the Tiki Man. Meanwhile, Patti realizes she forgot to leave Mitch's medicine for his potassium deficiency, and they head back. Hoping to catch Wayne and Gordon by surprise, they sneak up to the attic only to be shrunk when another billiard ball falls onto the activating button. Shortly after, the kids return home, and after hearing Wayne's previous message about the launch, assume they are alone for the evening. Jenny makes plans to have her friends come over. Upstairs, the adults make use of a fishing rod to lower themselves down into Adam's room. To attempt to get to the floor, they use his Hot Wheels race track, but they overshoot their target and fall down the laundry chute ending up in a clean load that is delivered back upstairs by Adam and Mitch. They tumble out of the laundry basket when it is overturned, and discover Adam and Mitch reading a Sports Illustrated Kids magazine, revealing to Wayne that Adam's interest is not in science as he hoped. The four suddenly encounter a cockroach, but manage to defeat it by luring it into a bug trap.
Seeing Mitch struggling, Patti realizes that they need to get him his medicine soon, or he could pass out. He ignores his weaknesses, though, and goes downstairs. The adults witness the arrival of Jenny's friends and decide to use a bubble machine in order to get downstairs. Diane and Patti land safely, but Wayne and Gordon fall into a bowl of onion dip and are nearly devoured by the girls.
In the kitchen, when Patti and Diane resolve to find a way up the counter in order to find Mitch's medicine and push it into view, they encounter a daddy long-legs with its leg caught in a spider web, and Diane quietly talks to it as Patti tries to cut the web with a nail file. Diane realizes her own insecurities about being small as she relates to it, which she had earlier tried to kill, and realizes how hard it is to be that size. After it's freed, Patti and Diane realize they can cling to its silk as it climbs up onto the counter. Meanwhile, Wayne and Gordon decide to rewire the stereo to work as a microphone. A group of boys begin to crash the party, including Jenny's crush, Ricky King. He takes her into the kitchen, where he steals a kiss from her, but she spurns him for not asking permission first, thus earning Patti's respect. Angered, he returns to his friends and they begin to wreak havoc in the living room. Mitch, severely weakened, enters the kitchen and discovers Patti and Diane on the counter before fainting, partially from his failure to take his medicine, and partially from the shock of seeing his miniature mother and aunt. Adam and Jenny discover him, and thinking quickly, Adam gets potassium-rich bananas to give to him, and he begins to recover, weakly saying he had seen his mother. In the living room, Adam stands up to Ricky before Wayne rewires the stereo so that Gordon can talk and amplify his voice. With this, he pretends to be the voice of God and orders Ricky and his friends to leave, leading Adam, Mitch, and Jenny to realize what has happened to them.
In the attic, the kids discuss the benefits of leaving their parents shrunk briefly before deciding they love them more than that, so they unshrink them to give them a chance to re-evaluate their parenting methods. Patti confides her trust in Jenny for how she stood up to Ricky and took care of Mitch, while Wayne tells Adam that he can have an interest in sports, and agrees to sign him up for baseball camp. Diane tells Wayne he can keep the Tiki Man, and won't sweat the "small" stuff anymore, while he decides to relinquish his presidency of Szalinski Labs to Gordon and return to inventing. In the end, life is back to normal again. Adam returns home from baseball camp, and Wayne has developed a new respect for baseball, and the Tiki Man has been moved into the backyard and enlarged to twice the height of the house.
Cast
- Rick Moranis as Wayne Szalinski. He is the only returning actor from the other films in the franchise.
- Eve Gordon as Diane Szalinski, Wayne's wife
- Stuart Pankin as Gordon Szalinski, Wayne's brother
- Robin Bartlett as Patricia "Patti" Szalinski, Gordon's wife and Diane's best friend
- Bug Hall as Adam Szalinski, Wayne and Diane's son
- Allison Mack as Jenny Szalinski, Gordon and Patty's daughter
- Jake Richardson as Mitchell "Mitch" Szalinski, Gordon and Patty's son
- Jojo Adams as Ricky King
- Mila Kunis as Jill, Jenny's friend
- Erica Luttrell as Jody, Jenny's friend
- Lisa Wilhoit as Holly, Jenny's friend
- Ashleigh Sterling as Corky, Jenny's friend
- Theodore Borders as Trey, Ricky's friend
- Bryson Aust as Vince, Ricky's friend
Reception
Sales
The film was released direct-to-video on March 18, 1997. It coincided with the video releases of The Long Kiss Goodnight and The First Wives Club.
Critical response
The film received mostly negative reviews from critics. On the film rating website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 25%, based on 8 reviews.[3]
See also
References
- ↑ "'Honey, I Shrunk the Kids' Director in Talks to Return for Reboot Starring Josh Gad (EXCLUSIVE)". 5 December 2019.
- ↑ "Rick Moranis Closes Deal to Return to 'Honey, I Shrunk the Kids' Franchise with 'Shrunk' at Disney". 12 February 2020.
- ↑ "Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves (1996)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved December 14, 2012.
External links
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