Honey, I Blew Up the Kid

Honey, I Blew Up the Kid
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Randal Kleiser
Screenplay by	Garry Goodrow Thom Eberhardt Peter Elbling
Story by	Garry Goodrow
Based on	Characters by Stuart Gordon Brian Yuzna Ed Naha
Produced by	Dawn Steel Edward S. Feldman
Starring	Rick Moranis Marcia Strassman Lloyd Bridges Robert Oliveri John Shea
Cinematography	John Hora
Edited by	Michael A. Stevenson Harry Hitner
Music by	Bruce Broughton
Production companies	Walt Disney Pictures Touchwood Pacific Partners [1]
Distributed by	Buena Vista Pictures Distribution
Release date	July 17, 1992 (1992-07-17)
Running time	89 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$32 million [2]
Box office	$96 million

Honey, I Blew Up the Kid is a 1992 American science fiction comedy family film sequel to Honey, I Shrunk the Kids , and the second installment of the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids film series. Directed by Randal Kleiser and released by Walt Disney Pictures, it stars Rick Moranis, Marcia Strassman, Amy O'Neill, and Robert Oliveri reprising their roles as the Szalinski family, as well as newcomer Keri Russell in her film debut. In the film, Adam Szalinski, the youngest addition to the family, is accidentally exposed to Wayne's new industrial-sized growth machine, which causes him to gradually grow to enormous size. Wayne's coworker, Dr. Charles Hendrickson, wants the giant Adam stopped at all costs, and would like to take over Wayne's invention, which is now owned by the large corporation belonging to the kindly Clifford Sterling.

The franchise continued with a direct-to-home video sequel, a television series, and theme-park attractions.

Plot

Three years after the events of the first film, inventor Wayne Szalinski and his family have moved to Nevada and have welcomed a new son, mischievous two-year-old Adam. One day, Wayne's wife, Diane, leaves with their daughter, Amy, to help her settle in her dorm at college, leaving Wayne to look after Adam and their now teenage son, Nick. Nick has developed a crush on Mandy Park, whom Wayne later arranges to babysit Adam. The next day, Wayne takes Nick and Adam to Sterling Labs, where he has constructed an advanced derivative of his shrink ray which enlarges objects. He tests it out on Adam's favorite toy, Big Bunny. However, when his and Nick's backs are turned, Adam attempts to retrieve it and is zapped by the machine, which appears to short circuit and not enlarge the targeted object.

Back home, Adam and Big Bunny are exposed to electrical waves from the microwave oven and grow in size, now 7 feet tall. Wayne and Nick try to take him back to the lab to reverse the process, but are caught and kicked out by Wayne's coworker, Dr. Charles Hendrickson, who wants to take over Wayne's invention for himself. Diane returns home early and discovers what happened, and she, Wayne, and Nick have a hard time trying to take care of the large Adam. Later, Wayne and Diane drive to a warehouse and retrieve Wayne's first shrink ray prototype to turn Adam back to normal. When Mandy arrives to babysit Adam, she panics and faints, forcing Nick to tie up and gag her. As he explains the situation to her, Adam is exposed to the television's electrical waves and grows to 14 feet before escaping through a wall.

Nick and Mandy search for him, but are taken into custody, with Adam placed into a truck. Wayne and Diane return home, finding Dr. Hendrickson and a U.S. Marshal waiting for them. He has summoned Clifford Sterling, the company chairman, with the plan to fire Wayne, have him and Diane arrested, and experiment on Adam. Sterling arrives and instead praises Wayne when he admits his mistake, and pledges to help Adam while firing Dr. Hendrickson for trying to smear Wayne. At the same time, the truck carrying Adam passes by high voltage lines, exposing him to more electrical waves and causing him to grow to 50 feet, escaping confinement. He mistakes Nick and Mandy for toys and puts them in his overalls pocket before heading for Las Vegas, pursued by his parents and the authorities. Wayne and Sterling figure out the cause of his growth and realize that exposure to Las Vegas' neon lights will make him grow bigger than ever. Dr. Hendrickson conspires with board director Terrence Wheeler to start a boardroom coup to take Sterling out of power. Dr. Hendrickson forcefully boards a military helicopter to attempt to tranquilize Adam.

Wayne is determined to use his shrink ray to shrink Adam back to normal but requires that Adam stand still for twelve seconds. Adam grows to 112 feet, wanders through Fremont Street, Las Vegas, causing mass panic. Dr. Hendrickson arrives by helicopter and starts shooting tranquilizer cartridges at Adam, causing Adam to cry in pain in front of everyone who then has sympathy for him. Diane, deliberately made giant by Wayne's machine intervenes and she then comforts Adam and makes him stand still while Wayne powers the shrinking machine. The shrinking is successful, and both return to normal size. Dr. Hendrickson arrives to reluctantly congratulate Wayne but is knocked out with a punch by Diane.

Wayne and Diane then realize that Nick and Mandy were still in Adam's pocket and have been shrunk. Wayne quickly finds them, but decides to give them a few minutes of privacy before returning them to normal size as the two appear to have become romantically attached. A Nevada State Police trooper with them asks the Szalinskis what are they going to do with Big Bunny who is still 112 feet tall, Adam decides for them all by playing with it.

Cast

• Rick Moranis as Wayne Szalinski, a wacky inventor.
• Marcia Strassman as Diane Szalinski, Wayne's wife.
• Lloyd Bridges as Clifford Sterling, the president of Sterling Labs.
• Robert Oliveri as Nick Szalinski, Wayne and Diane's teenage son and middle child.
• John Shea as Dr. Charles Hendrickson, Wayne's insolent coworker.
• Keri Russell as Mandy Park, Adam's babysitter and Nick's love interest.
• Ron Canada as U.S. Marshal Preston Brooks
• Amy O'Neill as Amy Szalinski, Wayne and Diane's daughter and oldest child.
• Daniel & Joshua Shalikar as Adam Szalinski, Wayne and Diane's two-year-old son and youngest child.
• Linda Carlson as nosy neighbor #1
• Leslie Neale as Constance Winters
• Gregory Sierra as Terence Wheeler, a board member at Sterling Labs who is allied with Dr. Hendrickson.
• Julia Sweeney as nosy neighbor #2
• Michael Milhoan as Captain Ed Myerson, a military pilot who reluctantly pilots Dr. Hendrickson to confront Adam.

Production

The original film, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989), was co-written by Stuart Gordon. Meanwhile, actor Garry Goodrow and his friend Peter Elbling had written an unrelated script titled Big Baby. It was about a toddler who grew to giant size by a freak accident involving a growth ray and eventually terrorized Las Vegas. The story was inspired by the film The Amazing Colossal Man (1957). Gordon optioned Big Baby and pitched it to Disney along with the script that would become Honey, I Shrunk the Kids; Disney passed on Big Baby initially. ^[3]

Honey, I Shrunk the Kids was a financial success, prompting Disney to register numerous names for a potential sequel. ^[4] Gordon successfully pitched the Big Baby script to Disney as the basis for a sequel. Screenwriter Thom Eberhardt was hired to make revisions to Big Baby; a year and a half was spent reworking the script to feature the Szalinskis. A new climax set among Las Vegas' neon lights was also added, as opposed to a power plant in the original script. ^[3] The project was retitled Honey, I Blew Up the Baby, before taking on the name Honey, I Blew Up the Kid. ^[2]

Gordon turned down the chance to direct the film, believing he would have limited creative control under Disney, although he remained as executive producer and made suggestions on-set. ^[3] Jeremiah Chechik was hired to direct, ^[5] as Disney considered him ideal after seeing his previous film, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989). Dawn Steel, the former president of Columbia Pictures, was hired as producer, marking her debut in such a position. Disney removed Chechik from the project a few months into pre-production, out of concern that his ideas were too ambitious and costly. The studio was also concerned about Steel's lack of experience, hiring Edward Feldman to handle most of her on-set duties. ^[3]

Randal Kleiser was hired as the new director, ^[5] due to his prior experience with special effects while directing Disney's Flight of the Navigator (1986). He had also taken over directing responsibility on Disney's White Fang (1991), which demonstrated to the studio that he could bring a project in on time and budget. ^[3]

Casting

Rick Moranis, Marcia Strassman, Amy O'Neill, and Robert Oliveri reprised their respective characters from the original film: Wayne, Diane, Amy, and Nick Szalinski. ^[3] The project also marked the feature film debut of Keri Russell. ^[6] Kleiser and the main cast would later return for the 3D show Honey, I Shrunk the Audience , presented at several Disney parks from the 1990s to 2010.

Casting director Renée Rousselot looked at more than 1,000 small children for someone to portray Adam, the newest addition to the Szalinski clan. She searched for mostly three- to four-year-old boys because a younger child was expected to be problematic. She came across two-year-old twins Daniel and Joshua Shalikar from New Jersey and immediately cast them in December 1990. ^[7] It was rare for actors as young as them to be cast in such a large role. ^{[7] [8]}

Feldman said the twins were initially "undirectable", stating, "We couldn't get them to respond or smile or do anything." However, the film crew retained them, as a recasting would cost $2 million. ^[8] A variety of methods were used to resolve the acting issue. The twins were allowed to do whatever they wanted on set, and were filmed the entire time in hopes of acquiring usable footage, some of it requiring script alterations to suit the material that was shot. ^[8] Some scenes between Moranis and the twins were improvised. ^{[3] [8]} The film crew, at the suggestion of child psychologist Joann Smith, also began picking a different crew member each day to celebrate a faux birthday. According to Smith, "If the boys think it's a party, they're more willing to work." ^[8] Kleiser recalled, "You can't just tell a 2-year-old, 'Go stand on your mark.' They have to be tricked into doing everything. The amount of film we shot was astronomical. Danny was generally better at improvising and fresh reactions. Josh was better at following directions, so we would alternate." ^[9]

Kleiser and a baby consultant would plan the twins' scenes several days in advance. One twin would act in the morning while the other was eating lunch or taking a nap. They were sometimes better-behaved and worked more efficiently while together on set. Effects producer Tom Smith said, "On his own, Dan was almost too adventuresome to repeat one move, and Josh seemed very cautious. Put them together and they could do anything." ^[7] At the time of production, the twins were contracted for potential appearances in two more Honey films. ^[7] However, the role was recast for the 1997 sequel Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves .

Filming and effects

Filming began on June 17, 1991, ^[2] and concluded on October 10. ^[3] The first filming location was in Simi Valley, California, for scenes involving the Szalinskis' house. ^{[2] [10]} Two replicas of the house were also built by production designer Leslie Dilley, one of them scaled down 43 percent for scenes where Adam has been enlarged. ^[3] A significant filming location was Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California. ^[2] Wayne's laboratory was among the sets built at the Burbank facility. ^[3] On-site filming also took place in Las Vegas, including the climax along Fremont Street, which was closed off for filming. ^{[3] [11]} A scene involving a water park – where Nick works and Mandy is introduced – was filmed at Wet 'n Wild, also in Las Vegas. The final shooting location was Orlando, with filming at Disney-MGM Studios. This was followed by a warehouse scene shot at the nearby Disney World merchandise distribution center. ^[12]

The film was produced on a $32 million budget, with $8 million going toward special and visual effects. ^[2] Because Kleiser had only minimal experience with special effects, he relied heavily on Smith. The film was originally scheduled to release in March 1992, but this was pushed back several months to avoid rushing the digital compositing work. ^[3] While post-production special effects were used heavily throughout the film, some effects were practical (shot on-set). When Adam knocks down his bedroom door, Dilley created a set with miniature furniture about four feet away from the camera, while the adult actors would be about fifteen feet away. ^[9]

Various props, created by Peter Chesney's Image Engineering, were used for giant Adam's rampage in Las Vegas. Among these was a 28-foot-high replica of Adam's chest, used for scenes involving Nick and Mandy in his oversized pocket. Other props included a pair of giant sneakers measuring 17 feet long, and a replica of the Vegas Vickie sign. ^[3] A portion of this sequence also depicts giant Adam playing a neon guitar sign from a Hard Rock Cafe. ^{[13] [14]}

Stunt double Alex Daniels was used for scenes featuring seven-foot Adam, with an oversized puppet head worn to depict the character's face. Daniels studied videotapes of the twins to replicate their movements. ^{[3] [7]} The head was created by Kevin Yagher and was an early idea of Chechik's. Kleiser said "when we didn't light that baby head properly, it came across as a giant Chucky doll! Most of those shots worked by fluke." ^[3] The hair on the puppet had to be dyed to match the twins, after their mother declined to have their own hair color modified. ^[7]

Lawsuits

Disney was sued in 1991 by Paul Alter, a game show television director, who claimed to have come up with the idea of an oversized toddler after babysitting his granddaughter and watching her topple over building blocks. He wrote a film treatment titled Now, That's a Baby! ^[15] Alter claimed there were several similarities between the film and his treatment, which consisted of the baby daughter of two scientists falling victim to a genetic experiment gone wrong instead of an enlarging ray. The case went to trial in 1993, with the jury finding in Alter's favor. Disney was forced to pay $300,000 in damages. ^[16]

Author Kit Reed also filed a lawsuit, alleging similarities with her short story The Attack of the Giant Baby. ^[3] The case was settled with Reed getting a "special recognition" credit. ^[17]

Release

Home media

The film was first released on VHS and LaserDisc on January 6, 1993. ^{[18] [19]} It was released on a bare-bones DVD in 2002. While the VHS release contained no bonus material besides a music video, the LaserDisc release contains the 1992 animated short film, Off His Rockers directed by Barry Cook, which accompanied the theatrical release. To date, Off His Rockers has only appeared on the LaserDisc release, making its availability rare, although the short can be viewed on YouTube.

The film was released on VHS in 1997, alongside its predecessor to coincide with the release of the third film in the series, Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves.

Reception

Box office

The film opened on July 17, 1992 in 2,492 theaters in the United States and Canada, almost twice as many as the first film. It opened at number one ahead of A League of Their Own on its opening weekend with $11 million. ^[20] The film ultimately grossed a total of $58.7 million in the United States and Canada. ^[21] Internationally it grossed $37 million for a worldwide total of $96 million. ^[22]

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 40% based on reviews from 20 critics, with an average rating of 4.85/10. ^[23] On Metacritic the film has a score of 50 based on reviews from 14 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". ^[24] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale. ^[25]

Desson Howe of The Washington Post claimed that the film "feels narratively limited. It's a one-joke movie: Adam just gets bigger and bigger. All Moranis needs to do is get the shrinker from the last movie and turn it on Adam." ^[26] Also from The Washington Post, Hal Hinson agreed that it was "a one-joke film" while also adding the film "squanders most of the comic opportunities its premise offers. As one-joke movies go, it's fairly inoffensive but also never better than mildly diverting. ^[27] Roger Ebert, reviewing for the Chicago Sun-Times , criticized the weak story writing that there "may be, for all I know, comic possibilities in a giant kid, but this movie doesn't find them." He further concluded that the "special effects, on the other hand, are terrific, as they were in the first movie. The filmmakers are able to combine the giant baby and the "real world" in shots that seem convincing, and the image of the toddler walking down Glitter Gulch is state-of-the-art. Too bad the movie relies on special effects to carry the show, and doesn't bring much else to the party." ^[28]

Soundtrack

Honey, I Blew Up the Kid
Soundtrack album by Bruce Broughton
Released	1992, 2017 (expansion)
Genre	Soundtrack
Length	39:57 (original) 69:34 (expansion)
Label	Intrada Records
Producer	Bruce Broughton

Intrada Records released the record in 1992, in time for the film's release. The score was composed and conducted by Bruce Broughton, who would return to provide the score for Honey, I Shrunk the Audience . "Stayin Alive" by the Bee Gees appears in it. So does "Loco-Motion" by Carole King, Gerry Goffin, and "Ours If We Want It" written by Tom Snow and Mark Mueller. The soundtrack album consists of just the score. In 2017, the label released an expanded edition included Broughton's score for Off His Rockers , the animated short that preceded the film in cinemas.

1992 album

All music is composed by Bruce Broughton

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Main Title"	3:03
2.	"To the Lab"	1:53
3.	"Adam Gets Zapped"	0:53
4.	"Putting on Weight?"	1:19
5.	"Macrowaved"	3:15
6.	"How'd She Take It?"	3:11
7.	"Sneaking Out"	1:12
8.	"Don't Touch That Switch!"	0:26
9.	"The Bunny Trick"	2:14
10.	"Get Big Bunny"	4:11
11.	"Clean the Streets"	3:00
12.	"Car Flight"	4:38
13.	"Ice Cream!"	3:47
14.	"Look at That Mother!"	2:26
15.	"That's All Folks!"	4:20
Total length:		39:57

2017 album

Honey, I Blew Up the Kid (Expanded Original Soundtrack)

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Off His Rockers: Music From The Cartoon Short"	4:27
2.	"Main Title"	3:10
3.	"Meet The Szalinskis"	1:04
4.	"Just Like Your Dad"	1:36
5.	"To The Lab"	1:58
6.	"Us Guys"	1:02
7.	"Back To The Lab"	1:14
8.	"Adam Gets Zapped"	0:35
9.	"Putting On Weight?"	1:24
10.	"Macrowaved"	3:20
11.	"Hi Guys, I'm Home"	0:57
12.	"How'd She Take It?"	3:17
13.	"The Playpen"	1:10
14.	"Sneaking Out"	1:17
15.	"The Warehouse"	2:07
16.	"Don't Touch That Switch!"	0:26
17.	"He's Out And He's Bigger"	0:34
18.	"The Bunny Trick"	2:55
19.	"Truck Ride"	0:35
20.	"Hendrickson Gets Sacked"	0:46
21.	"Get Big Bunny"	4:18
22.	"No Naaap"	1:47
23.	"Clear The Streets!"	3:01
24.	"Car Flight"	4:43
25.	"Ice Cream!"	3:53
26.	"Look At That Mother!"	2:30
27.	"Diane Decks Hendrickson"	0:51
28.	"End Credits – That's All, Folks!"	4:25
29.	"Mandy?"	0:38
30.	"How Was Your Flight?"	0:14
31.	"Starting To Get Big"	0:17
32.	"Wayne Gets Fired"	0:22
33.	"It's Not A Morphis"	0:09
34.	"The Crate"	0:15
35.	"He's Headed For Vegas"	0:10
36.	"Adam Catches The Car"	0:20
37.	"Can't We Go Faster?"	0:20
38.	"Adam Cries"	0:15
39.	"Mandy's Room (Rock Source #2)"	1:36
40.	"T.V. Commercial Source"	0:17
41.	"End Credits – That's All, Folks! (Alternate)"	4:44
Total length:		69:34

See also

• List of films set in Las Vegas

References

1. McBride, Joseph (July 17, 1992). "Honey, I Blew Up the Kid". Variety. Retrieved June 3, 2019.
2. "Honey, I Blew Up the Kid (1992)". American Film Institute. Retrieved December 8, 2023.
3. Schweiger, Daniel (August 1992). "Honey! I Blew Up the Kid". Cinefantastique. pp. 16–23. Retrieved December 8, 2023.
4. "Is 'Honey, I Faxed the Kids' Coming?". Los Angeles Times. October 17, 1989. Retrieved December 8, 2023.
5. Beck, Marilyn; Kenel Smith, Stacy (April 4, 1991). "Director finds blowing up baby is a big, big job" . Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved December 8, 2023.
6. Feinberg, Scott (June 17, 2018). "'Awards Chatter' Podcast — Keri Russell ('The Americans')". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved December 8, 2023.
7. Steve Daley (August 7, 1992). "Honey, the Kids Coulda Blown the Movie". Entertainment Weekly . Retrieved 2020-04-04.
8. Angeli, Michael (July 12, 1992). "Mama, I Drove the Director Nuts". The New York Times. Retrieved December 8, 2023.
9. Daly, Steve (May 22, 1992). "Blowing Up Baby". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on January 10, 2008.
10. Miller, Pam (June 22, 1991). "Simi Valley: Film Crew Focuses on Neighborhood". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 8, 2023.
11. White, Ken (July 14, 1991). "Big 'Baby' wreaks havoc on Las Vegas" . Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved December 8, 2023.
12. "Disney's New 'Baby' Drops By". Orlando Sentinel. October 8, 1991. Retrieved December 8, 2023.
13. Burr, Ty (July 24, 1992). "Honey, I Blew Up the Kid". Entertainment Weekly.
14. Epting, Chris (December 30, 2003). "Reel Las Vegas". NBC News. Retrieved December 8, 2023.
15. Schweizer, Peter; Schweizer, Rochelle (1998). Disney: The Mouse Betrayed : Greed, Corruption, and Children at Risk. Regnery Pub. ISBN   978-0-89526-387-2 . Retrieved December 8, 2023.
16. Welkos, Robert W. (November 13, 1993). "Jury Tells Disney to Pay $300,000 in 'Honey' Case". Los Angeles Times.
17. Sandomir, Richard (September 28, 2017). "Kit Reed, Author of Darkly Humorous Fiction, Dies at 85". The New York Times. Retrieved December 8, 2023.
18. Cling, Carol (January 6, 1993). "Video fans watch giants tromp over Vegas this week" . Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved December 8, 2023.
19. Burr, Ty (January 8, 1993). "Honey, I Blew Up the Kid". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved December 8, 2023.
20. "Honey, I Blew Up the Kid, tops box office". United Press International . 20 July 1992. Archived from the original on 15 May 2023. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
21. "Honey, I Blew Up the Kid". Box Office Mojo . Retrieved December 14, 2012.
22. Klady, Leonard (January 3, 1994). "Int'l top 100 earn $8 bil". Variety . p. 1.
23. "Honey, I Blew Up the Kid Movie Reviews". Rotten Tomatoes . Fandango Media. Retrieved December 21, 2012.
24. "Honey, I Blew Up the Kid". Metacritic . Retrieved 2020-05-04.
25. "CinemaScore". Archived from the original on February 6, 2018.
26. Howe, Desson (July 17, 1992). "Honey, I Blew Up the Kid". The Washington Post. Retrieved February 13, 2020.
27. Hinson, Hal (July 17, 1992). "Honey, I Blew Up the Kid". The Washington Post. Retrieved February 13, 2020.
28. Roger Ebert (July 17, 1992). "Honey, I Blew Up the Kid". Chicago Sun-Times . Retrieved September 21, 2009.

External links

• Honey, I Blew Up the Kid at IMDb
• Honey, I Blew Up the Kid at the TCM Movie Database
• Honey, I Blew Up the Kid at AllMovie
• Official website