Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves

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Details At A Glance

General		Extras
Category	Comedy	None
Rating
Year Released	1996
Running Time	71:55 minutes
RSDL/Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Movie	Cast & Crew
Region	2,4	Director	Dean Cundey
Studio Distributor	Warner Home Video	Starring	Rick Moranis Eve Gordon Stuart Pankin Robin Bartlett
Case	Transparent Amaray	Starring	Rick Moranis Eve Gordon Stuart Pankin Robin Bartlett
RPI	$36.95	Music	Michael Tavera

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	Full Frame	MPEG	None
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	None	Dolby Digital	2.0
16x9 Enhancement	No	Soundtrack Languages	English (Dolby Digital 2.0 , 192 Kb/s) French (Dolby Digital 2.0 , 192 Kb/s) Italian (Dolby Digital 2.0 , 192 Kb/s)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.33:1	Miscellaneous
Macrovision	?	Smoking	No
Subtitles	English Dutch English for the Hearing Impaired	Annoying Product Placement	Yes, very
Subtitles	English Dutch English for the Hearing Impaired	Action In or After Credits	No

Plot Synopsis

Back in 1989 a reasonably entertaining film by the name of Honey, I Shrunk The Kids (with wife and two kids) was released. Not the greatest film ever made, but at least it was reasonably original and raised a couple of laughs. It made for a nice little time-filler of a movie. It obviously did quite well in terms of money as the folks at Disney, well renowned for making a buck, made a sequel that appeared in 1992: Honey, I Blew Up The Kid (with wife and three kids). This proved that the originality factor of the original film was not huge and certainly did not transcend a repeat. In 1995, the folks at Disney expanded the "family" with a third film Honey, I Shrunk The Audience (with wife and ?two kids). You may not have heard of this one, which would not surprise as it is a 3D film at Disney World (it may be at their other theme parks too, but I can only attest to the Orlando location). Possibly the best of the "family" to date, even if it is a little pricey to get to see it! So, having got three films in the "family" to choose from, what effort gets to appear first on DVD? The appallingly lamentable fourth film in the family (with wife and...1 kid?!)! How appalling and lamentable? Well, it is a straight-to-video release. What more needs to be said? If you thought that Honey, I Blew Up The Kid was an appalling sequel, this is worse by a factor of maybe 100. A comedy? I can guarantee you that the 72 minutes did not contain a single solitary nanosecond of anything remotely funny that could even hint at putting something like a smile on my face.

The broad story here? Well this one pretty much recycles the broad story of Honey, I Shrunk The Kids, with the requisite change being that Wayne Szalinski (Rick Moranis) this time shrinks himself, his brother Gordon (Stuart Pankin), his wife (Eve Gordon) and his sister-in-law Patty (Robin Bartlett). What follow are seventy dull minutes of "adventures" as they rely upon their kids to find them and blow them back up. Surely you were not expecting much else, were you?

The story is not much to worry about, the performances (sorry, but I really have difficulty describing it as acting) are borderline rubbish and the whole thing smacks of a film done by numbers from a bunch of hacks that we are thankfully unlikely to hear from again. What makes this even worse is the fact that the direct-to-video type budget is woefully exposed under the digital eye and the effects really look anything but believable. It is a very sad indictment of the whole Disney organization that this sort of banal rubbish is what they turn out better (or is that worse?) than anyone else in the business.

This is yet another Region 4 Disney release that can be given the complete miss. I doubt that even the under ten set would find anything here to keep them amused. Quite why Buena Vista persist in releasing this sort of garbage in Region 2 and 4, I really do not understand. Frankly, I would rather have nothing than this sort of trash. Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves is the number one candidate for re-release in 2002 at an ultra budget price - they should still have plenty on hand by then, so save your dollars and look elsewhere.

Transfer Quality

Video

Some time ago, I made mention in a review of the fact that Buena Vista had mastered the art of the mediocre transfer, or at least something like that. This effort is another typical example.

Being made for video, the original aspect ratio of the film is 1.33:1, which is what we get on this DVD. It is, of course, not 16x9 enhanced.

This really is the epitome of the mediocre transfer. The image is not especially sharp and is not especially detailed. Shadow detail is quite average. Clarity is nothing to rave over. About the only thing that is of note in the transfer is the rather flattish image, again reflecting the made-for-video nature of the film, and a bit more grain than would normally be expected. There did not seem to be any low level noise problems with the transfer.

The flattish image is complemented by a flattish palette of colours, and this is not a transfer to raise the pulse as far as vibrancy and tone are concerned. The colours are serviceable and nothing more. This could certainly have benefited from a bit more saturation and depth to the colours.

There did not appear to be any significant MPEG artefacts in the transfer. There was some aliasing in the transfer but nothing that was really significant. There did not seem to be any real problems with film artefacts.

*Video Ratings Summary*
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

There are three audio tracks on this DVD, being an English Dolby Digital 2.0 surround-encoded soundtrack, a French Dolby Digital 2.0 surround-encoded soundtrack and an Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 surround-encoded soundtrack. I stuck with the English soundtrack.

Dialogue is clear and easy to understand throughout.

There did not appear to be any hint at all of audio sync problems with the transfer.

The musical score comes from Michael Tavera and a completely ignorable effort it is. There is little here that would be worthwhile worrying about.

The soundtrack is completely unmemorable, but at least it is reasonably open-sounding with no congestion or distortion. The surround usage is not huge and the whole soundtrack really does not have an awful lot to do. Obviously there is no bass channel use at all here. All-in-all, this is definitely not a disc to dazzle the party with.

*Audio Ratings Summary*
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

Yeah right.

R4 vs R1

This has not graced the Region 1 release sheets as yet, so that makes the Region 1 version the best option!!

Summary

Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves is a piece of utter rubbish that should never have made it onto DVD. I doubt that anyone of any age would find anything even remotely funny or entertaining in this 72 minute piece of purgatory. To be avoided at all costs.

A mediocre video transfer.

A mediocre audio transfer.

No extras.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

Review Equipment
DVD	Pioneer DV-515; S-video output
Display	Sony Trinitron Wega 80cm. Calibrated with the NTSC DVD version of Video Essentials.
Audio Decoder	Built in
Amplification	Yamaha RXV-795. Calibrated with the NTSC DVD version of Video Essentials.
Speakers	Energy Speakers: centre EXLC; left and right C-2; rears EXLR; and subwoofer ES-12XL