Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989) - Shrinking kids movie is less fun than you thought it was

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Bright family-oriented fun is promised on this poster for Joe Johnston's Honey, I Shrunk the Kids

An inventor father's latest shrinking machine is recklessly stashed in the family's attic, so that a wayward basketball starts a fateful shrinking of both his and the neighbors' kids!

 

Honey, I Shrunk the Kids is written by Ed Naha (Omega Doom (1996)) and Tom Schulman (What About Bob? (1991)), with Stuart Gordon (The Dentist (1996)) and Brian Yuzna (From Beyond (1986)) contributing story elements, and directed by debuting Joe Johnston (The Pagemaster (1994)).

An imaginative adventure especially for smaller children (ages up to 12), the film's great quality is its impressive special effects that are a mix of robotic animals, stop motion and green screen, among other techniques. Unfortunately the kid actors are not very good, nor very well-cast, - and neither are the adults!

The few fun moments arise when Rick Moranis (Big Bully (1996)) and his wife look for their spawn in the lawn. The story and style seems to be going for a Spielbergian brand of movie magic, but the adventure is too constricted, and the big emotions are blanked out, maybe also to hit an 'undisturbing' and 'safe' Disney tone for the movie. The result is sweet but also artificial, as when the parents are not too upset by their progeny's new ant-size state, and when the surrounding conflicts (the neighbor father has to accept his son, who also is tasked with romanticizing the neighboring daughter) are resolved in the end without any real reason being given, except for the fact that the kids have been shrunk, - and of course more importantly that the movie formula dictates it.

 

Related posts:

  

Joe Johnston: 2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

The Wolfman (2010) - Johnston's luxurious, effects-driven remake 

Hidalgo (2004) - More respectable than rousing

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 18 mil. $

Box office: 222.7 mil. $

=  Mega-hit (returned 12.37 times its cost)

[Honey, I Shrunk the Kids was released 23 June (North America) and runs 93 minutes. Gordon dropped out of directing due to illness. Shooting took place from January - July 1988 in Mexico City, Mexico. The film opened #2, behind fellow new release Batman, to a 14.2 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 4 weekend in the top 5 (#2-#3-#3-#4), grossing 130.7 mil. $ (58.7 % of the total gross). The film's foreign gross figures have regrettably not been made public. The film won a BAFTA, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 2/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. The film's success spun a theatrical sequel, Honey, I Blew Up the Kid (1992), a video sequel, Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves (1997), a Disney attraction and a TV-series. Johnston returned with The Rocketeer (1991). Moranis returned in Bobby Brown: On Our Own (1989, music video) and theatrically in Parenthood (1989). Honey, I Shrunk the Kids is fresh at 78 % with a 6.30/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids? 

Ghostbusters (1984) - Reitman and Co. conjure up the gleeful pomp and circumstance of the 1980s

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Something fresh that's funny and ominously spooky at the same time is promised on this effective poster for Ivan Reitman's Ghostbusters

Three guys who are fired from university paranormal scientist positions instead begin hunting ghosts in the Big Apple. More specifically an evil entity by the name of Zuul, which comes out of sexy New-Yorker Dana's (Sigourney Weaver (Alien (1979)) refrigerator.

Ghostbusters is written by co-writer/co-star Dan Aykroyd (Dragnet (1987)) and co-writer/co-star Harold Ramis (Bedazzled (2000)) and directed by Ivan Reitman (Foxy Lady (1971)).
It is a delightful 1980s horror-comedy bonanza with a hilarious Bill Murray (Rock the Kashbah (2015)) at the film's front and center. Rick Moranis (SCTV (1980-81)) as Dana's neighbor is also a riot.
Ghostbusters is a throw-back to a fantastic era where experimentation such as an FX-heavy comedy with no intellectual property behind it, - a costly, unproven and original concept, - enjoyed full studio support. It is a colorful, highly entertaining and damn good time.

Related post:

Ivan Reitman: Evolution (2001) - Reitman's sci-fi crazy-comedy is thoroughly entertaining

Watch an original trailer for the film here

Cost: Estimated 30 mil. $
Box office: 295.7 mil. $
= Blockbuster (returned 9.85 times its cost)
[Ghostbusters premiered 7 June (California) and runs 105 minutes. Aykroyd was inspired by his family's fascination with ghosts and with ghost comedies of Hollywood yore. The studio paid Universal Pictures 500k $ for the rights to the Ghostbusters title. Reitman requested the 25-30 mil. $ budget by simply tripling the budget of his preceding film Stripes (1981). John Candy was sought for the neighbor Tully role but turned it down; Eddie Murphy was meant to be the 4th ghostbuster Winston but turned it down, and the role was diminished prior to filming to the regret of its eventually star Ernie Hudson, who goes unrecognized on the film's poster. Shooting took place in New York and Los Angeles from October 1983 - January 1984. Production shut down streets in New York during rush hour, angering residents including writer Isaac Asimov, and necessitating an officer pull his gun on a taxi driver refusing to comply. With Hollywood's major special effects companies already busy on other projects, Columbia Pictures supported Richard Edlund, fresh off Poltergeist (1982), with 5 mil. $ to open a new SFX company named Boss Film Studios and create the effects for Ghostbusters. The effects cost 700k $ more to complete and included Steve Johnson's 300k $ Slimer ghost, created with inspiration from the late John Belushi while taking cocaine. Columbia spent an additional 10 mil. $ on prints and marketing. One trailer included a toll-free number with a pre-recorded message from Aykroyd and Murray, which reportedly got more than a million calls in 6 weeks. The film opened #1 to a 13.5 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it stayed #1 for another 14 weekends and was in the top 5 for another 7 weekends, grossing 229.2 mil. $ in its first release there (81.2 % of the total initial gross). It has made more in subsequent re-releases. It was the 2nd highest-grossing film of the year in North America, behind Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and Ghostbusters is the highest-grossing comedy of the 1980s. Ray Parker Jr.'s Ghostbusters #1 Billboard Hot 100 theme is thought to have contributed 20 mil. $ to the film's success, but Parker was sued by Huey Lewis for plagiarizing the bass line in his I Want A New Drug (1983): The two settled out of court, and Parker sued Lewis for saying that Parker "stole the song" in a 2001 VH1 episode, leading Lewis to then pay him an undisclosed sum. While Hudson worked for half his fee to get the role as Winston, the real stars received gross profit percentages; Murray at top reportedly earned 20-30 mil. $ from the film. Tons of merchandise were sold, as well as 400k VHS copies initially in North America, at the incredible unit prize of 79.95 $, accruing a further 32 mil. $. The film was nominated for 2 Oscars: Best Effects, lost to Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and Best Song (Ray Parker Jr.'s Ghostbusters), lost to Stevie Wonder's I Just Called to Say I Love You from The Woman in Red. It was also nominated for 3 Golden Globes, won 1/2 BAFTA nominations and was nominated for a Grammy, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 3.5/4 star review, translating to a notch higher than this one. The film inspired an animated TV-series (The Real Ghostbusters (1986-92)) and a sequel series, as well as a less successful (still majorly successful though) movie sequel, Ghostbusters II (1989) with the filmmakers and cast back, which disappointed Murray, impeding a second sequel: Instead the female reboot Ghostbusters (2016) was made to financial mire: A new sequel with a new cast, directed by Reitman's son Jason Reitman, is set for release this summer as Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Reitman returned with the music video for Parker's Ghostbusters (1984) and theatrically with Legal Eagles (1986). Murray enjoyed a 6-year hiatus after the smash before returning as a leading star with Scrooged (1988); his first role was, however, in Nothing Lasts Forever (1984); Aykroyd in the same film; and Ramis in Baby Boom (1987). Ghostbusters is certified fresh at 97 % with an 8.14/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Ghostbusters?