• Rating:
• Genre: Comedy
• Movie Type: Sci-Fi Comedy
• Themes: Shrunken People, Experiments Gone Awry, Race Against Time
• Director: Joe Dante
• Main Cast: Dennis Quaid, Martin Short, Meg Ryan, Kevin McCarthy, Fiona Lewis
• Release Year: 1987
• Country: US
• Run Time: 120 minutes
• MPAA Rating: PG

Plot

Director Joe Dante infuses this science fiction comedy with the visual razzle-dazzle and manic, goofball performances typical of his cartoon-inspired sensibilities. Navy test pilot Lt. Tuck Pendleton (Dennis Quaid) has volunteered for a highly dangerous medical experiment. A submersible craft, with Tuck at the controls, is to be shrunk down to molecular size and inserted into the body of a living rabbit. If successful, the test could result in radical breakthroughs in surgical techniques, but some high-tech thieves attempt to steal Tuck and his ship while both are in miniature form. Enter Jack Putter (Martin Short), a mild-mannered, hypochondriac retail store clerk, a nerd who suddenly finds himself injected with Tuck and his tiny ship. Now poor Jack's got to rise above his mundane existence to help an American hero get back to safety, while also trying to reunite Tuck with his beautiful estranged girlfriend Lydia (Meg Ryan). Innerspace (1987) won an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Review

Essentially a visually sophisticated update of Robert Fleischer's Fantastic Voyage (1966), Innerspace is a wacky sci-fi treat that looks like oodles of fun for both the performers and the Oscar-winning special effects department. There's something inherently watchable about the "oops, we're headed straight for the gall bladder!" emergencies of this story matter, and it gives Martin Short a license to be physically scattershot -- something the audience doesn't always grant him so willingly. Dennis Quaid's hotshot pilot is key to setting Joe Dante's grinning tone; his wisecracks under duress keep the movie humming along at the level of screwball comedy, in which nothing really bad can happen. The giddy "reality on hold" mindset of Innerspace is a logical offshoot from Dante's Gremlins, though the director is migrating from comic fantasy to fantastic comedy. That he helped direct the episodic parody Amazon Women on the Moon the same year suggests his increasing fondness for the ridiculous. The shrunken production design and weightless sensibilities of Innerspace likely helped inspire Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, which would turn size altering into a franchise two years later. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide

Cast

• Dennis Quaid - Lt. Tuck Pendelton
• Martin Short - Jack Putter
• Meg Ryan - Lydia Maxwell
• Kevin McCarthy - Victor Scrimshaw
• Fiona Lewis - Dr. Margaret Canker

Henry Gibson - Mr. Wormwood; Vernon Wells - Mr. Igoe; Robert Picardo - The Cowboy; Wendy Schaal - Wendy; Harold Sylvester - Peter Blanchard; William Schallert - Dr. Greenbush; John Hora - Ozzie Wexler; Mark L. Taylor - Dr. Niles; Orson Bean - Lydia's Editor; Kevin Hooks - Duane; Kathleen Freeman - Dream Lady; Archie Hahn III - Messenger; Kenneth Tobey - Man in Restroom; Charles Aidman - Speaker at Banquet; Christine Avila - Lab Technician; Alan Blumenfeld - Man with Camera; Joe Flaherty - Waiting Room Patient; Jenny Gago - Lab Technician; Robert Gray - Lab Assault Henchman; Grainger Hines - Rusty; Rance Howard - Supermarket Customer; Charles "Buck" Jones; Andrea Martin - Waiting Room Patient; Richard McGonagle - Cop; Terry McGovern - Travel Agent; Dick Miller - Cab Driver; Frank Miller - Scrimshaw's Henchman; John Miranda - Man in Elevator; Laura Waterbury - Supermarket Customer; Jeffrey Boam - Lydia's Interview; Chuck Jones - Supermarket Customer; Neil Ross - Pod Computer; Herb Mitchell - Camera Store Clerk; Jason Laskay - Scrimshaw's Henchman

Credit

Joe Dante - Director; Ken King - Sound/Sound Designer; Kent Beyda - Editor; Jeffrey Boam - Screenwriter; Rob Bottin - Makeup Special Effects; Rob Bottin - Special Effects; Judy Cammer - Set Designer; Michael Finnell - Producer; Richard C. Goddard - Set Designer; Jerry Goldsmith - Composer (Music Score); Peter Guber - Executive Producer; Pat Kehoe - First Assistant Director; Kathleen Kennedy - Executive Producer; Kathleen Kennedy - Producer; Andrew Laszlo - Cinematographer; Frank Marshall - Executive Producer; Frank Marshall - Producer; William Matthews - Art Director; Dennis Muren - Special Effects; Dennis Muren - Special Effects Supervisor; Gene Nollman - Set Designer; Rosanna Norton - Costume Designer; Jon Peters - Executive Producer; Charles "Chip" Proser - Co-producer; Charles "Chip" Proser - Producer; Charles "Chip" Proser - Screen Story; Charles "Chip" Proser - Screenwriter; James Spencer - Production Designer; Steven Spielberg - Executive Producer; Steve Maslow - Sound/Sound Designer; Judy Taylor - Casting; Mike Fenton - Casting; Jane Feinberg - Casting; Chip Proser - Short Story Author; Kenneth Smith - Visual Effects; David Worth - Second Unit Director Of Photography; William George - Visual Effects

Similar Movies

Honey, I Shrunk the Kids; Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves; Osmosis Jones; Antibody

Innerspace Twin