For many people of a certain age, Honey, I Shrunk The Kids was a big, big deal. The movie was a fun adventure film aimed at children and contained some great imagery that many still hold close to their hearts to this day. The kid swimming in a bowl of cereal, the giant ant who befriend the shrunken posse, that attic full of gadgets and gizmos — these were things that stuck with the audience. The movie was a quirky throwback to the old-school Disney sci-fi that many of our parents grew up with. It is a damn shame that the follow-up films were just so awful. Rick Moranis deserved better. We all deserved better.
Disney is getting back into the Honey, I Shrunk The Kids business with Shrunk, a reboot of the franchise that will star Josh Gad as the son of Moranis’s character. He will play a bumbling scientist father who somehow also shrinks his offspring. Maybe this family needs to start pursuing different jobs. You don’t run into these sorts of problems when you own a flower shop.
Gad pitched the idea to Disney earlier this year and the studio planned on creating the film for Disney+ but the latest draft of the script got executives excited and now they are planning this film to be a theatrical release. I think that makes sense because a movie like this deserves to be on the big screen. Shrunken children, big screen — it just makes sense.
While the news of Shrunk (yeah, that’s what they’re calling it) might not blow your hair back, the news of who is directing may interest you. Variety reports that Joe Johnston will helm the project, returning him to the series that started his directorial career thirty years ago. Honey, I Shrunk The Kids was Johnston’s first directing gig and started off his varied and successful career with a bang. There is really no one better to return to the franchise all these years later. Johnston really delivered with the first film and that was during a day and age when special effects weren’t favored over practical effects and in-camera tricks. One hopes that Johnston will bring that same sort of magic back for Shrunk.
The remaining question is if Rick Moranis will somehow be involved in the production. He retired from acting long ago but, hey, you never know. The first Honey film was a huge deal for his career and perhaps this new script and Johnston’s involvement will reel him in. I hope so because it’s been too long since we have seen him. If they really want to make us happy, Disney will bring back both Moranis AND Matt Frewer.