From rec.arts.sf.reviews Sun Jul 26 16:51:45 1992 Xref: herkules.sssab.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:723 rec.arts.sf.reviews:110 Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Path: herkules.sssab.se!isy!liuida!sunic!mcsun!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!linac!att!cbnewsj!ecl From: leeper@mtgzy.att.com (Mark R. Leeper) Subject: REVIEW: HONEY, I BLEW UP THE KID Reply-To: leeper@mtgzy.att.com Organization: AT&T, Middletown NJ Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1992 13:49:57 GMT Approved: ecl@cbnewsj.att.com Message-ID: <1992Jul22.134957.12182@cbnewsj.cb.att.com> Followup-To: rec.arts.movies Summary: r.a.m.r. #01443 Keywords: author=Leeper Sender: ecl@cbnewsj.cb.att.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Lines: 86 [Followups directed to rec.arts.movies. -Moderator] HONEY, I BLEW UP THE KID A film review by Mark R. Leeper Copyright 1992 Mark R. Leeper Capsule review: Silly but undeniably enjoyable satire on 1950s science fiction films has the Szalinski family accidentally enlarging their baby to Brobdingnagian proportions. Somewhat better than it really deserves to ne Rating: +1 (-4 to +4). (Relevant diatribe follows the review!) At the current rate I would expect by the turn of the century the film industry will have churned out more take-offs, pastiches, and satires of 1950s science fiction films than there were science fiction films made in the 1950s. None have ever seemed very good to me, but HONEY, I BLEW UP THE KID is at least more light-hearted than most. (Of course, the title may sound less good-natured than intended, but all the ads make sure everybody knows in just what sense "blew up" is intended.) This is, of course, the sequel to HONEY, I SHRUNK THE KIDS, and though HONEY, I BLEW UP THE KID began life as a script for an unrelated film BIG BABY, it was worked into a sequel for the previous film. Actually, it was to have been much the same plot as THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN with a baby. Echoes of that film still abound in the script. In the years since the last film, a typical soulless corporation has taken over Wayne Szalinski's scale-bending projects and is trying to magnify and reduce objects without much luck. Rick Moranis as Wayne continues not to get much respect in spite of being the genius behind it all. Still, it is only Wayne that can make things work and even he cannot do exactly what he wants. What he accidentally creates is a two-and-a-half-year-old Adam Szalinski who grows when he passes through electromagnetic flux. (Conservation of matter? What's that all about?) We end up with a ten- story baby clomping his way through Las Vegas--even the same streets that Glenn Manning, the COLOSSAL MAN, walked. This giant, however, is not shot off of Boulder/Hoover Dam. There is only a poster of the dam to remind us of the original. Incidentally, as well all know, any satire of 1950s science fiction has to have a small role for either Kenneth Tobey or Dick Miller. This time it's Tobey's turn, with him playing a security guard. Standards for special effects have come a long way since THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN (special effects in Bert. I. Gordon films were always particularly bad!). While in HONEY, I BLEW UP THE KID it rarely is difficult to tell how an effect was created, there are only a few effects that genuinely look wrong. The only really bad effect that I noted was a full-size model of a baby chest and arm in the background. The arm just does not move as wildly as it does in the surrounding scenes. Kudos should go to the "Baby Wranglers" listed in the credits, since Adam (played by Daniel and Joshua Shalikas) seems always to do exactly the right thing at the right time. And it is true that the fictional Adam and the real life Shalikas all seem to be extraordinarily well-behaved. My rating for this light-hearted piece of summer fluff is +1 on the -4 to +4 scale. ... Diatribe follows. I noted with some disappointment that the credits of HONEY, I BLEW UP THE KID acknowledge similarities to the story "The Attack of the Giant Baby" by Kit Reed. CINEFANTASTIQUE reports that after Reed saw a promo for the film she took the Disney organization to court over similarities to her story. Actually the Reed story concentrates on the nastier aspects of babies and shows them magnified. If, indeed, Reed thinks she invented and owns the idea of over-size babies getting loose and causing problems in her 1981 story, I might suggest that she read (or re-read) the 1904 novel THE FOOD OF THE GODS by H. G. Wells. The mechanism for creating the giant baby is in the realm of physics in the new movie. Reed's mechanism is nearly identical to Wells's. That is, she has the baby eat a food with fantastic growth properties. I seriously doubt that the Wells estate has taken Reed to court, and I can tell you for a fact that her story bears no similar acknowledgement to Wells. Science fiction has been in the past a field where people could feel free to play with others' ideas and put new twists on them. But I suppose as long as some people in the field have deep pockets and other people have greed, that can no longer be the case. Be it here noted that the concept of giant babies causing problems has somehow been transferred from the Wells estate to Reed. Presumably the concept of time travel is still the property of the Wells estate. David Brin probably owes royalties on uplift to either Wells for THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU or Nigel Kneale for QUATERMASS AND THE PIT. Invisibility and alien invasion again revert to the Wells estate who effectively own a controlling interest in modern science fiction. So it goes. Mark R. Leeper att!mtgzy!leeper leeper@mtgzy.att.com From rec.arts.sf.reviews Tue May 6 13:22:54 1997 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!solace!mn6.swip.net!weld.news.pipex.net!pipex!owl3.office-workstations-ltd.co.uk!burn.news.pipex.net!pipex!hose.news.pipex.net!pipex!rill.news.pipex.net!pipex!news.maxwell.syr.edu!worldnet.att.net!cbgw2.lucent.com!nntphub.cb.lucent.com!not-for-mail From: rhodes_steve@tandem.com (Steve Rhodes) Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: RETROSPECTIVE: HONEY I BLEW UP THE KID (1992) Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.past-films,rec.arts.sf.movies Date: 23 Apr 1997 20:27:24 GMT Organization: Tandem Computers, Inc. Lines: 63 Sender: eleeper@lucent.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Approved: eleeper@lucent.com Message-ID: <5jlrbc$c3i@nntpa.cb.lucent.com> Reply-To: rhodes_steve@tandem.com (Steve Rhodes) NNTP-Posting-Host: mtvoyager.mt.lucent.com Summary: r.a.m.r. #07388 Keywords: author=Rhodes Originator: ecl@mtvoyager Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:6788 rec.arts.sf.reviews:1259 HONEY I BLEW UP THE KID A film review by Steve Rhodes Copyright 1997 Steve Rhodes RATING (0 TO ****): ** 1/2 When I was growing up, the kids' movies, even (or especially) the B movies, had one redeeming feature: a fascination with science. What better way to enliven a kid's imagination than a science fiction film? The HONEY I SHRUNK THE KIDS series provides not only science fiction, but the appreciation for creativity and the whole invention process. Moreover, they celebrate quirky people as people to be admired rather than ridiculed since their big ideas might just work. The second film in this series is director Randal Kleiser's HONEY I BLEW UP THE KID. Released in 1992, it represents a nicely done B movie for the whole family. The slightly hokey special effects are just realistic enough not to be ridiculed. The same cast for the Szalinski family is back from the original, but this time they have a two year old named Adam, played alternatively by twins Daniel and Joshua Shalikar. Rick Moranis repeats his role as Wayne, the father and Rube Goldberg-style inventor. Marcia Strassman plays his understanding wife Diane. Robert Oliveri, as Nick, has hit puberty and has his eyes cast on Adam's baby-sitter, Mandy Park (Keri Russell). Amy O'Neill returns only briefly as Nick's sister Amy. The premise of the show is that Wayne is trying to perfect a machine to enlarge items. Adam accidentally walks into the path of its laser, and, voila, giant toddler on the way. As Adam grows by leaps and bounds, they figure out that he has growth spurts when he comes close to electrical waves. Where does he go to sop up electricity? Why Las Vegas, of course, with all its neon glitter. Beside, what more visually interesting place to film a giant than a backdrop of neon figures as big as this Godzilla-sized toddler. I will not reveal the resolution to their predicament, but here's a hint. "There's one thing every little kid knows," Diane tells us. "Daddies mean fun; mommies mean business." A film that from start to finish is good spirited family fun, it never lapses into parody and never pretends to be more than it is. HONEY I BLEW UP THE KID runs just 1:29. It is rated PG, but I am not sure why. The film would be fine for all ages. The recent video HONEY WE SHRUNK OURSELVES is our 8-year-old Jeffrey's favorite in this series, but he likes HONEY I BLEW UP THE KID too. I recommend this picture to you and your family and give it ** 1/2. _______________________________________________________________________ **** = A must see film. *** = Excellent show. Look for it. ** = Average movie. Kind of enjoyable. * = Poor show. Don't waste your money. 0 = Totally and painfully unbearable picture. REVIEW WRITTEN ON: April 19, 1997 Opinions expressed are mine and not meant to reflect my employer's.