Watch Honey, I Blew Up the Kid For Free

Just perfect...

A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Many of you must remember the "Wonderful World of Disney" TV program in the '60's and '70s. In particular, you might remember some of the quasi-science fiction flicks starring a young Kurt Russell as high-school student Dexter. In "high concept" movies like "The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes", "The Strongest Man in the World", and "Now You See Him, Now You Don't", Dexter would be subjected to wild, crazy plots where he would, respectively, gain super-intelligence, super-strength, and invisibility powers. The movies were not too sophisticated, logical, scientifically sound, or intellectual, but they were fast paced and fun. Disney's "Honey, I..." canon, especially "Honey, I Blew Up the Kid" (hereafter HIBUTK), would have been comfortably at home at "Wonderful World of Disney".Basic and straightforward as the plot is, I won't bother going into TOO much detail about it - maybe. Wayne Szalinki's (Rick Moranis's) two-year old toddler son Adam(and his stuffed bunny) somehow accidentally gets into the path of the harried inventor's matter-sizing ray. But instead of shrinking to the size of an ant, the lively charmer gradually grows larger, especially when stimulated by electromagnetic currents. Despite Wayne's and his wife Diane's (Marcia Straussman's) efforts to conceal the mishap, Adam, the Amazing Colossal Baby, soon swells to skyscraper size and, naturally attracted to the pretty neon lights, lumbers towards Las Vegas. Wayne races against time and a smarmy corporate and professional rival (John Shea) to restore his son to normal without hurting him and save Las Vegas from his innocent destruction. Oh, before I forget, Wayne must also save his older son Nick and his would-be girlfriend,whom Adam has grabbed and put into his overall pocket.It's easy to find fault with HIBUTK. Overwrought characterizations, a non-dimensional villain, the impossibility of gigantism (Adam would have collapsed under his massive weight), occasionally dodgy special effects, yes they're all there. But c'mon people, HIBUTK is a fairly absorbing and suspenseful melding of the time-tested "Giant Monster on the Loose" and "Raising a Cute Kid" plots. It's also a fairly realistic portrayal of how a newly-enlarged child would react to his surroundings (everything is a toy) and the special, painstaking care the police and military have to employ to contain Adam safely. I also think director Randall Kleiser should receive credit for being able to work with the Shalikar twins (who alternately play Adam) and coax an engaging performance from them, and also not forgetting the tentative relationship growing between Nick and his girlfriend in spite of their predicament. Against the odds, HIBUTK works, and is even affecting. If you don't tear up a little when a misplaced fighter tranquilizer shot makes Adam cry and drop the enormous "Hard Rock Cafe" guitar sculpture he's strumming, well then, you're truly emotionless.But never fear, all Adam needs is a strong female figure to settle him down. Wayne's matter-sizer converts Diane into a 300-foot "mama grizzly" who gets Adam to sit still, and Wayne returns both to normal. Of course, we have a happy ending, and Adam has a 50-foot bunny to play with.Sometimes you have to bow to and enjoy the absurd. That's what I did with HIBUTK.

I think that this movie should go up there with Home Alone II and Shrek II as one of the worthy sequels to any great movie. "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" was one of the most creative movies I have ever seen. Who would think of a shrinking machine that accidentally shrinks the children and gives the audience a much better view of a regular backyard? And the special effects and set was top notch. I can't believe that it wasn't nominated for an Oscar for those two categories. But if you liked that movie, you need to see "Honey I Blew Up the Kid." Wayne Szalinsky is at it again, but this time, he's created a machine that makes things grow and he accidentally made his toddler son, Adam, grow until he's the size of a skyscraper! The cast is the same, but now Lloyd Bridges, John Shea, and Keri Russell have been added into the mix. The acting was good, the special effects were even better than the first movie, and there's laughs and plot twists around every corner! To the people who don't think that this movie was good, sometimes you just have to pretend your a kid again in order to get the whole gist of the movie. And I don't say that with every kid's movie (especially not ones with mediocre CGI animation and potty jokes/language, like the crap we have nowadays), but this one is free of all of those nasty movie plagues, making this movie a rare treasure and one of the best sequels I have ever seen! I never get tired of watching it, and I hope that once you see it, you won't either! This movie deserves an applauding 9/10, and the only thing keeping it from being a perfect score are the few corny jokes placed in the movie, but aside from that, don't wait! Go rent it right this second!

Things haven't changed much for Wayne Szalinski (Rick Moranis). Years after the events of "Honey, I Shrunk The Kids," he's still tinkering with new inventions, the latest of which, enlarges -- rather than shrinks -- it's targets. After losing control of his own project, he inadvertently enlarges his toddler son, resulting in plenty of bad green-screen effects and illogical plot-holes. The youngest Szalinski grows to be over 150 feet tall and makes his way to Las Vegas, only to match wits with Lloyd Bridges, Bill Moseley and Keri Russell, to name a few.What can be expected of a sequel to "Honey, I Shrunk The Kids?" The answer: Not much. Admittedly, this movie was enjoyable when I dragged my family to see it in theaters as a wee-lad, but now, upon a much-delayed second viewing on outdated VHS, I can safely say that this film just doesn't live up to the clever and just plain fun spirit of it's predecessor. Truth be told, it's -- as the summary suggests -- a glorified b-movie. Entertaining only to see Rick Moranis do his thing and to say "Hey, look! It's Bill "Chop-Top" Moseley!" Even without taking it too seriously, it's not even fun to mock. Like most Disney sequels, it's hollow, soul-less and is just barely entertaining. As much fun as it is to re-visit long lost movies of our childhood, this one fails to hold up. At the very least, it's better than the third film that followed in it's wake, but certainly a glimpse into some of the mindless entertainment that the 90's provided for it's children. Unfortunately, a lot of the worst movies from that era chose babies as their subject matter.

Stars Rick Moranis.As the title says, this movie is about scientist Wayne Szalinski accidentally making his infant son Adam large. Adam runs rampant through the city in a stupid King Kong like story. After watching it, the film seems really pointless and kind of depressing. It's not that anything depressing happens in the film, it's just a depressing film. Where much of the first film was about the kid's being shrunk, in comparison very little is about the baby in this one. I guess if you enjoy Rick Moranis's work or if you want to watch it for Lloyd Bridge's small role then this is your movie, otherwise avoid it.My rating: * 1/2 out of ****.