Tesoro, mi si sono ristretti i ragazzi

Absent-minded genius Moranis accidentally shrinks his kids to microscopic size and they end up in the yard. At their size, they must fight dangerous creatures like ants and bees and menacing household items like a lawnmower and a garden hose before they can traverse back to the house and hope to be restored to normal size. Amusing Disney comedy is fun for the whole family. The special effects are pretty good as simple household objects are shown as humongous from the perspective of the kids. Moranis is likable as the mad inventor and Strassman is cute as his wife. The young actors don't try to be too cute and Frewer is funny as the neighbor whose son has also been shrunk.

I rememeber seeing this film in summer 1989 in the movie theater when I was still in elementary school. On the big screen the FX are so cool! They don't translate as well on the small screen, though. It's also funny to see the Matt Frewer character making pot shots at Rick Moranis's character. The shrunken kids' adventure to cross the yard is also cool. The Roger Rabbit short "Tummy Trouble" before the start of the film is an added bonus! Great Disney fun!

This is a fun movie for the entire family. Well, of course, it's ridiculous but the kids will love it and you can laugh right along with them.

The absurd tale revolves around around a nutty scientist & dad named Wayne Szalinski who is working on a machine to miniaturize objects. When his two kids plus their two neighbouring friends (the Thompsons) wander into his lab, Wayne inadvertently shrinks the four of them. Then he accidentally tosses them out in the garbage, so the poor kids have to brave the dangers of the lawn to get back to the house. And can the well intended but crazy scientist figure out how to bring the youngsters back to full size again? (Personally, my favourite aspect of the movie is the nutty father.)

The story has plenty of adventure and danger as the teensy weensy younguns brave the perils of the jungle (actually their lawn). They face thunderstorm like risks of potentially drowning in the lawn sprinkler or being attacked by giant ants, bees, & other bugs. Not to mention the lawn mower!

Avoid the TV series of the same name, but this movie has some good family messages involving the two sets of parents (the Szalinskis & the Thompsons) as well as the kids. And of course there's lots of hilarity and adventure. It should be rated higher than it is and fully deserved its popularity at the time. This film put the phrase 'Honey, I shrunk (or whatever) the kids' into people's everyday vocabulary!

My Take: A fine family entertainment with some neat special effects.

I grew up watching and enjoying this funny, fast-paced fantasy adventure. But when I watched it back then, I always seemed to start it on the part with the scorpion and the ant, so I only watch a few parts. But I finally found it on DVD and watched it from the beginning. And I really enjoyed it. It's really a fantastic fantasy, with elaborate special-effects and lavish "enlarged" sets.

The film is quite like the fantasy films filmmaker Steven Spielberg produced, like "Back to the Future" and "Innerspace" for instance. It depicts the adventures of average people, thrust into an adventure of a lifetime, and then must find away to get back safely. That's kinda like the premise of "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids", a group of neighborhood kids get shrunk to size by a weird machine crazy inventor Rick Moranis invented. Disney triumphs in creating an enjoyable fantasy that's sure to be a charm. The stop-motion effects are still impressive, even if special effects in the 80's have certainly moved on. It's one of the best live-action Disney efforts and a fine fun for the entire family.

This film is followed by a sequel "Honey, I Blew up the Kid", which is not quite as zany and imaginative as its predecessor.

Rating: ***1/2 out of 5.

Or as my mom would say "cute". This is by far one of the finest family films I have ever seen. I consider "Toy Story" and "Babe: Pig In The City" as its only rivals for my favorite family film. Anyway, it's by far a very enjoyable movie, with nice special effects (the giant insects) and a real play-fun spirit like the part where they eat a giant oreo cookie or slept in the lego block. The kids are indeed very likeable, and the movie even has a sense of adventure. I'll never forget the giant (well, giant to them anyway) water drops that were terrorizing them and Amy slowly falling into a pool of mud and grime(and the grimy pool with the dead ant floating in it they found earlier). I'll always remember the funny way the dad said "Russel!" and the overviewed music they had at the beginning where they first saw the large outside or Wayne's shouting of "Get off the grass!!". I really can think of very few things I didn't like about this film. I now wonder exactly how many times they had a shrinking story (from an episode of a show or a video game etc.) that had the words "Honey, I Shrunk The .....". I recommend it to your kids. They won't be disappointed. A 10/10. Nice sequel too.

Could it possibly be that in the movie "Dinosaur" when he was dodging the fireballs that was a reference to this movie with how they were dodging the water drops?