"Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" opened in theaters back on June 23, 1989. This was exactly the same day the first "Batman" movie opened. While "Batman" exploded to an opening weekend record (at that time), "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" opened in the #2 spot and it held its ground very well through the rest of the summer finishing as the surprise sleeper hit of the summer of 1989. And what a surprise this film turned out to be. "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" is a very funny, wildly entertaining comedy/fantasy about a nutty professor who's working on a device to make objects shrink. In the beginning, all this machine does is blow things into little pieces. But thanks to a little fate, the machine starts operating the way its supposed to, and four kids find themselves in the path of the machine. They are shrunk to the tiniest of sizes, end up being swept into garbage, and have to find their way back home by going through the backyard which to their point of view looks like a large jungle. "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" has alot of special effects. Some of the effects look good, other effects look really fake. If this movie had been made today the effects would have been more elaborate. But who cares if the effects look fake when the movie is so much fun. "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" is lots of fun. The performances are terrific. Rick Moranis is perfect as the nutty professor who has to find his two kids (as well as the two kids from next door) and fix up this mess. Marcia Strassman shines as Moranis's wife, and Matt Frewer is hysterical as Moranis's next door neighbor who's big plans for a weekend fishing trip go down the drain when his kids suddenly disappear (of course his two kids are two of the four kids that are shrunk). The four young actors playing the shrunk kids are all terrific, and the movie really belongs to them. Those kids are played by Amy O'Neill, Thomas Brown, Jared Rushton, and Robert Oliveri. Haven't seen much of them today, but they're all excellent in "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids". This is a Disney film that I could watch over and over again because it's so much fun. And I'm not a child. Kids should like it too. I don't think it's too scary even though there are a couple of scenes with the kids in perilous situations. Nevertheless, "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" is a movie for the whole family. Skip the two sequels "Honey, I Blew Up the Kid" and "Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves" as well as the TV series of the same name. They don't come close to matching this one for all out fun.
***1/2 (out of four)
***1/2 (out of four)