ALL SCI-FI

[Pow]

Honey, I Shrunk the Kids Trivia.

Earlier titles for the film were "Teeny Weenies," "Grounded," and "The Big Back Yard." Chevy Chase, John Candy, and Martin Short were all considered for the role of scientist Wayne Szlanski. It was John Candy who suggested his friend, Rick Moranis, for the role.

An early version of the script had one of the kids (then numbered at five instead of the film's four) die during the sprinkler sequence.

Opening animated sequence was the first of its kind to combine hand-drawn animation with 3D models.

The musical score over the animated credits was composed by James Horner. The music was found to be similar to the 1937 song "Powerhouse" by jazz composer Raymond Scott. Scott's estate sued Disney for failing to credit Scott and the case was settled out of court.

The movie raked in $14,000,000 on its opening weekend which was the biggest ever for a Disney film by a long shot.

It is believed that some of the credit for that boffo box office for Disney has to be attributed to director Tim Burton. Burton's Batman movie opened that same weekend as Honey did on June 23, 1989.

Batman was an enormous hit and the lines were long for it. Whenever the tickets sold out for Batman, it was believed that those people who couldn't get in for Batman then shrugged their shoulders and purchased tickets for Honey.

Director Stuart Gordon sold Honey to Disney Studio and was to direct the project as well. Gordon had previously directed "Re-Animated" (1985), and "Dolls" (1987). Both were horror films and Disney was very nervous about Gordon killing off the kids in Honey. Gordon laughed, he said he'd become a father recently and wanted to direct a family & kids friendly movie and not another horror film.

Disney executives were also nervous about "Anty" in the the film. They sent notes to Gordon that it should look less like an ant and more like E.T. Gordon thought E.T. was scary looking and frightened kids. He invited the Disney execs to the workshop where the effects crew were putting on the finishing touches for the large robotic puppet of "Anty."

There, at the workshop, with the crew operating "Anty" he showed them how friendly it could be as "Anty" nuzzled Gordon like a horse does with people.

Stuart Gordon became ill and was forced to withdraw from directing Honey. Joe Johnston was brought in at the 11th- hour to direct, this would be his very first directing credit. Based on the big success of Honey, Johnston was assigned to the Disney film "The Rocketeer."

Sets and props took more than nine months to construct.

Honey was entirely shot at Churubusco Studios in Mexico City, Mexico. The studio was the epicenter for Mexican film productions since 1945. "Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid," "Total Recall," and "Free Willy," were just some of the many, many movies shot there.

Twelve houses were built for the Szlanski neighborhood on the Churubusco backlot.

The giant "Anty" robot puppet required seven to twelve crew members to operate it.

The Special Effects Crew were won the BAFTA Award (British Academy of Film and Television Arts.)

Marcia Strassman who played Diane Szlanski was requested by Disney producer Jeffry Katzenberg to change her reddish-brown hair color to honey blonde. She had been shooting the film for two weeks at this time, but did as Katzenberg asked her. In the movie we see Diane with two different hair colors but no one seemed to notice.

Honey received the Dunce Cap Award for 1989 from the Society for the Preservation of English Language and Literature. Proper grammar for the film title would have been "Shrank," and not "Shrunk."

[Gord Green]

[Bud Brewster]

________________________________

Mike, you've outdone yourself. (And that ain't easy!)

I was fascinated by all the info you shared about this wonderful movie. I've seen it several times, but other than my first viewing at a theater, it must have been on a cable/satellite channel, because the drooling idiots at Disney still haven't released a DVD or Blu-ray of it in the proper aspect ratio!

I bought the DVD once, not knowing it was in the dreaded 4:3 ratio, and I either sent it back of just tossed it into the trash because it didn't cost enough ($3.99 from Amazon) to bother with the return process!

How could Disney be so dimwitted that they've denied us a BD in widescreen? It's insane!
_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Pow]

Still, not everyone was charmed by this Disney films.

Roger Ebert: "I've been trying to figure out exactly what's missing in 'Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.' The special effects are all there, nicely in place and the production values are sound, but the movie is dead in the water."

RE: "It tells an amazing and preposterous story and it seems bored by it. The special effects are inventive and first-rate. The technical expertise is there. But the story surrounding it is thin, slow and lacking in inspiration.

All the performances in the movie seem a little unfocused. There should be chemistry among the four kids, but instead there are simply routine line readings.

The adults are given so few recognizable emotions they seem less involved than the audience.

The pacing is slow and there is a low energy to it all."

Sidebar: No love from Roger for Honey.

I'm a fan of the film and was surprised that he was so negative about it all except for its marvelous special effects and production values.

Sidebar: I totally disagree that ..." the story surrounding it is thin, slow and lacking."

Having the kids miniaturized and propelled into a fantastic and unknown experience was quite compelling for me. The worry and fear by the parents brought in another human dimension to it.

Sidebar: I recently watched on Youtube Siskel & Ebert's reviews for Tron. They both were delighted by the film and raved about it.

To me, other than its groundbreaking and lavish visual effects, it possessed a plot that was "thin, slow and lacking," that he accused Honey of having. And while Tron had some very fine actors in it, I never noticed any great chemistry among 'em.

Sidebar: Ebert claims that "The adults are given so few recognizable emotions that they seem less involved in the story than the audience."

Seriously, Roger!?! I saw how frantic and desperate the moms and dads were as they frantically tried to find out how their kids mysteriously vanished. Followed by more panic when they did solve what happened to them and how to locate and save them all.

For me, Honey captured the fun, comedy, adventure and science fiction that Disney produced with The Absent Minded Professor, and it's equally entertaining sequel Son of Flubber.
I found the pacing moved right along and the kids were enjoyable in their interactions as they journeyed from the backyard to the house in order to get help.

Sidebar: The stop-motion battle between Anty and the scorpion was thrilling and would have made Ray Harryhausen proud. The death of Anty was poignant in a way I never thought one could be over the demise of an insect.

Sorry, Roger, but you and I are on entirely different pages regarding this wonderful movie.

[Bud Brewster]

________________________________

Amazing! How could a celebrated and highly respected film critic be so blind to the merits of this brilliant and charming movie?

As you stated, Mike, not a single one of his shocking criticisms are legitimate! It's as if he saw a completely different movie than we did — one that really sucked!

Here's what IMDB trivia has to say about the critical and popular response to this movie which Ebert was obvious incapable of understanding.

[Bud Brewster]

__________________________________________________

I just purchased the Blu-ray shown below, which Blu-ray.com says is widescreen (1.85:1). I'm looking forward to seeing this again after waiting several years for it to finally come out.

______________________
_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[tmlindsey]

[Bud Brewster]

[Pow]

A scorpion is a marvelously frightening insect to include in a movie. You can't make one up much scarier looking, and scorpions are real!

Willis O'Brien created and animated some deadly ones in the 50's horror-science fiction film The Black Scorpion.

Ray Harryhausen would follow his mentor by having scorpions in his final movie Clash of the Titans. They're well done---of course---but I was always a bit disappointed that the scene with the buggers took place at night. I'd have loved to have them dancing around in broad daylight for a nice clear view.

I posted elsewhere (Movies in Other Genres) that Ray should have titled his movie Sinbad and the Eye of the Scorpion instead of Tiger. The film would have been much cooler with a large scorpion battling the poor Trog in the finale. A scorpion would have provided a fierce and nasty looking enemy. The Sabretooth Tiger never did, at least for me.

The stop-motion animated ant in Honey gave us an idea on how such an insect could have been done for the classic 50's science fiction film Them!

[scotpens]

^^ Scorpions are arachnids, not insects.

[Bud Brewster]