This movie came up in conversation with my friends, so we decided to turn it on that night. I had seen it before, but over 10 years ago I’m sure. Seeing it with this new lens made me realize how insane this movie is!
This movie came out under Disney in 1989, earning it the Highest Grossing Live Action Disney film of all time (at the time). For 1989, the special effects are lowkey impressive. It released in theaters on June 23rd, honestly a great time to do so because this movie was fun! And perfect to kick off the summer with.
I may be biased towards Rick Moranis but he really devours each role he is in, including this one. He plays the classic mad scientist kooky father, and his ditzy demeanor never truly goes away, even as he’s searching for his kids. It shocked me to learn that Chevy Chase was originally considered for the role due to his success in National Lampoon’s Vacation! I think he would have done a good job, but nothing like Moranis. Another secret star is Thomas Wilson Brown, who plays the eldest son of the neighbors and since then has been on Days of Our Lives and CSI.
A 93-minute run time for a movie is a little unheard of these days, especially after what I call the ‘Infinity War Boom’ that made every movie producer agree to make movies over 2 hours because hey, Marvel did it and they were successful! Honestly it was refreshing to have a fun short story displayed on the screen.
This movie does a good job of capturing both kinds of audiences. As a kid, I remember being glued to the screen watching this, seeing everything so up close was educational (I was a nerd) and entertaining. There was so much action, so much adventure! Now, as I’m grown, I hate to say I was the least invested in the giant blades of grass and most of my attention was captured by this sub-romance plot between two of the kids (more on that later).
*PLOT & SPOILERS AHEAD*
As per the title, this father shrinks not only his kids, but the neighbors kids as well. Oh my gosh I would have paid their bills for the next month because of the trauma. Missing children reports are filed with the police and… well, really what else can you do.
Being accidentally swept into a garbage bag, these kids have to break out and make the walk across the lawn to get back to their house. The walk is long and harrowing, and these kids are fighting tooth and nail to walk… 3 MILES?? Wait. It’s only a 3 mile walk. Call me crazy but you can certainly do that under an hour. Run and you can probably make it there in 45 minutes!
Traversing through the terrain, the sprinklers turn on and water starts flooding the lawn. And at this point you really hope these kids had safety drills in school. These droplets are coming down like BOMBS. Like fear-for-your-life bombs. How none of them became hydrophobic after this is impressive, this water was terrifying. They ride on a leaf into the mud which seems like an awesome Universal Orlando ride, which led me to do my research and find out they did used to have one! It was an adventure through the set that included tall grass, ants, and a dogs nose, but sadly closed in 2016.
Here, one of the kids almost drowns in the mud and one of them gives her rescue breaths to bring her back to life. Now here’s where it got me GOING! These two kids have had chemistry from the start. And then they started blushing after going mouth to mouth… he saved her LIFE… tell me you guys see the vision. I was hooked.
After this, the kids find an Oatmeal Creme Pie and use it to make an ant (lovingly named Antie) their friend. He chills with them for a bit. After taking solace in a Lego piece, the kids wake up and realize that there is a SCORPION IN THEIR LAWN?? Where does one live to have thriving green grass but a casual scorpion in the lawn??? I’d never be outside ever. Anyways, Antie heroically dies defending the kids from the scorpion, which was a little heartbreaking. I grew to love that ant. He was too good for this world.
The kids hitch a ride on their dog (named Quark, which I’m sure can be attested to their mad scientist inventor father) and somehow ends up in their dads Cheerios, where he nearly eats one of them (traumatic). Hero Dog Quark bites the dads ankle to get his attention, the machine is fixed and the kids are brought back to normal size, and the neighbors are now friends and get together for Thanksgiving. Really makes you wonder if those kids got therapy, but it’s the 90s, so they probably turned to other vices.
All in all, I ended up giving this movie ★★★☆☆ / ★ ★ ★ ★ ★. It’s camp. It kept me entertained. Might take another 10 years for me to revisit it, though.
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