Honey, I Blew Up the Kid

Here's another example of the sequel being slightly better than the original, at least in my humble opinion. However, the original ("Honey, I Shrunk The Kids") was nothing super, not something you'd call a "classic." It was "pretty good." This one is "good."

It had more laughs and less irritating kids. There is still the stupid teen romance, but not emphasized as much as in the first movie. The little kid in here, who is turned into a giant, is cute and affable and his giggle is fun to hear.

The first 40 minutes of this film are the best. It gets a little too silly after that. At the end, Disney succumbs to the craze of the early '90s: having a woman punch out a man. In this case, it was nice mother (Marcia Strassman.) Give me a break!

The special-effects were okay but not totally convincing. In fairness, it's not easy trying to produce the effects of a 100-foot child walking down the streets of Las Vegas, but they've still come along way from the days of "The Attack Of The 50- Foot Woman" in 1958. However, there is still room for FX improvement.

Overall, some good laughs in the film and - with one exception - likable characters.

I expected some negative comments, but nearly every single one? C'mon, it's not that bad! It's really simple, stupid and (of course) illogical, but denying that there's no absurd comedic moments (the baby is kind of funny!) and no funny scenarios (the teenagers being stuck in the "toy car") seems bizarre to me.

I loved this film as a kid. There were specials on the Disney Channel when it finally (after what seemed like forever) premiered on there, and it was a rather neat experience for an eight year old.

In fact, I've watched this movie so many times as a kid that I've seen it a hell of a lot more than the unquestionably superior first movie. It was just one of those things.

Watching it now, I'll admit that the special effects can be rather cumbersome and the lines are almost always pure cheeseball (Rick Moranis' especially). Also, Keri Russell's work here is absolutely terrible; after watching a lot of "Felicity," I for some reason expected her to be at least near that quality. Not to mention the stupid "villian" who hits the baby with some projectile; very, very mock able.

But it's a nice little dumb movie! Who cares! It's certainly not "sequel hell," etc etc. It's entertaining at the very least.

That affable, amiable, absent minded professor family man Wayne (Rick Moranis) is back, but now his experiments in size are funded by a big time company and he's a hot property. Unfortunately, his new toddler son, Adam, is the one who gets zapped this time, but instead of shrinking, he's turned into a toddler of Godzilla proportions. If you thought Wayne's wife was unhappy with Wayne shrinking their older son Nick and daughter Amy (who only cameos here) in the first film, just wait till you see her lose it here when she finds out her little boy Adam here! Now it's a race against time for Wayne to shrink Adam back down to size before he's destroyed by an uncaring society, with help from his now teenage son Nick and his girlfriend, Kerri Russell before she hit it big with "Felicity".

May strain the cuteness for some, will warm the hearts of others. Followed by a direct to video sequel that's not even worth the price of rental.

Aside from the cute twins who played Adam this movie is relatively dull. I have the book, that has pictures from the movie, and it is practically the same.

The same actors from the first movie, minus the Thomsons, come back and they have a new addition to the family. Adam is a two-year old mischief maker who can get out of almost everything. The Szalinskis have moved to Las Vegas, and have a bigger house. Still, the place is often a mess.

Wayne has a new invention, a machine that enlarges matter, instead of shrinking it. But when an experiment goes awry, Adam is enlarged. The problem gets worse when he keeps growing due to a electromagnetic fuse. (or something like that) One of Wayne's fellow employees, Charles Hendrickson, is a typical villain. He wants to take credit for everything Wayne does, and almost gets away with it. Fortunately, h'es fired by his boss, Clifford Sterling. But that doesn't stop Charles. He later tries to take Adam away from his family to undergo tests, but Adam is eventually shrunk back down to two feet.

What could have been a better movie was a major disappointment.

My Score: 5/10.

The lovable Szalinskis are at it again. In this inferior sequel to Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, Dad blows up his little son to the size of a redwood. It is enjoyable enough in the beginning but after a while the filmmakers run out of ideas about what to do with a big baby. As with the first film, Moranis brings a lot of energy to his role and Strassman still looks cute but the other kids and the nosy neighbors are missed. The plot line about Moranis' wacky boss just gets out of hand and by the time the action moves to Vegas, the whole plot becomes tiresome. It may have helped if they had a cuter kid play Adam or if they had him do some funnier things.