- The scientist father of a teenage girl and boy accidentally shrinks his and two other neighborhood teens to the size of insects. Now the teens must fight diminutive dangers as the father searches for them.
- On the brink of perfecting his state-of-the-art matter-shrinking machine, the suburban paterfamilias and indefatigable inventor, Professor Wayne Szalinski, realizes that his device truly works, when it zaps both his kids and next-door neighbors' sons. Now, to return to the relative safety of their home while being reduced to a mere quarter-inch size, they must venture out into the dense and perilous landscapes of their now-immense backyard: a hostile environment where nearly everything spells trouble. Can they exit the green maze of grass in one piece?
- Wayne Szalinski is a crazy scientist who invents a shrinking machine that is so powerful it only blows things up. When a baseball is hit through the window and lands in the path of its laser, it begins working. Wayne's two kids plus the boys next door end up getting shrunk. He accidentally sweeps them up and puts them out with the trash, so they have to travel through the thick grass back to the house, while braving giant bugs, a sprinkler, and a lawnmower.—Jason Ihle <jrihl@conncoll.edu>
- A preoccupied inventor just can't seem to get his electromagnetic shrinking machine to work. Then, when he accidentally shrinks his kids and next-door neighbors' sons down to 1/4-inch tall and tosses them out with the trash, the real adventure begins. Now they face incredible dangers as they try to make their way home through the jungle of their own backyard: a sprinkler, dive-bombing bees, a runaway lawnmower, and much, much more.—Kelli Barron
- On a Saturday morning, Wayne Szalinski (Rick Moranis) is irritating his next-door neighbor Russ Thompson Sr (Matt Frewer) building machinery in his attic. With a long fishing camping trip ahead of them, Russ Sr's wife Mae Thompson (Kristine Sutherland) manages to calm him down. Their two sons are Ron Thompson (Jared Rushton), a troublemaker who is energetic about the upcoming trip, and Russ Thompson Jr (Thomas Wilson Brown) who has been showing a complete lack of interest in many of the things his father holds dear. While Wayne's teenage daughter Amy Szalinski (Amy O'Neill) daydreams of an upcoming dance while Wayne's young son Nick Szalinski (Robert Oliveri) emulates his father's interest in science and inventing. The families as a whole do not get along, and with the temporary separation of Wayne's wife Diane Szalinski (Marcia Strassman) things at home seem strained as well.
That same day, Wayne goes to a conference to seek funding for a shrink ray he's invented, though he does not tell them it only blows things up so far instead of shrinking them. The other scientists laugh at him and go to lunch during his presentation. Meanwhile, Ron knocks a baseball through the Szalinski's attic window, activating the shrink ray and falling into its focusing laser. The shrink ray starts shrinking objects in the room, starting with an old couch and chair. Russ Jr forces Ron to fess up to Nick and Amy. Nick and Ron go upstairs to retrieve the ball.
Unbeknownst to them, the shrink ray detects their entry and immediately shrinks them. Afterwards, Russ Jr and Amy go to check on them and they too are shrunk to one fourth of an inch (6.4 mm) in height. Wayne returns home to find the house a mess and Nick and Amy missing. Unaware that the kids are shrunk, he then goes to the attic. Prior to his entry, the baseball falls off the ray and hits the power button, powering it down. The kids try to get Wayne's attention, but they are too small to be heard or seen. Wayne goes to sit on his couch but falls down since it is missing. He then notices the hole in the window from Ron's baseball. Wayne takes out his anger from his day on the machine and starts destroying it. Wayne sweeps up the mess and with it the children, throwing them out with the garbage on the other side of the back yard. Stranded 'miles' from the house, Nick plans to lure their dog Quark to them as he can hear what humans cannot; it nearly works until the Thompsons' cat, Spike, scares him back into the house.
Nick falls into a flower and is picked up by a bee. Russ Jr jumps on to help him, and they are separated from Ron and Amy. After being swatted at by Wayne, the bee crash lands, and the groups make their way back together. The Forresters, friends of the Thompsons, arrive to start the camping trip. Russ Sr lies about his children missing to the Forresters and they leave for the camp without the Thompsons, infuriating Russ Sr into saying "those kids" are grounded. While looking at the attic floor, Wayne steps on his chair, and then finds his couch in a miniature form. Wayne learns the shrink ray shrunk Nick, Amy, Russ Jr, and Ron. He then realizes he must have swept them up and discovers their escape from the trash bag. While wearing stilts to try and not step on them in the yard, Wayne accidentally turns on the sprinklers. While outrunning the storm, Amy falls into a pool of mud and nearly drowns until Russ Jr uses mouth-to-mouth to bring her back.
After encountering an Oatmeal Cream Pie that Nick has thrown out, the children encounter an ant that they call Antie and decide to use it to ride back home. As it gets dark, Diane returns home and calls the police to report their children missing, and the same police officers who are taking a similar report from the Thompsons are sent. Wayne tells Diane the situation who is less than excited as she faints in front of the police. Later, Wayne and Diane rig a sling to look for the kids in the dark as the kids seek shelter in a Lego block to sleep. Diane tells Wayne that they need to inform the Thompsons about the children. Not surprisingly, the Thompsons do not believe them and storm off.
Later that night the children are attacked by a scorpion and are unable to fend it off. Antie tries to save them and fights the scorpion but is stung and killed. Ron drives off the scorpion by throwing a stick into its eyes. In the morning they continue their trek to the house. That same day Nick's friend Tommy comes to the house to mow the lawn on an earlier agreement he had with Nick the day before. Wayne and Diane hear the mower and are able to get Tommy to turn it off, but not before the kids are sucked through it and thrown closer to the house. Landing inches from Wayne, Ron loses hope they'll ever be noticed when Quark comes in and picks them up. Running inside, Quark barks at Wayne and Nick falls into his bowl of Cheerios. He is nearly eaten until Quark bites Wayne's leg getting him to notice Nick is in his spoon. They bring the Thompsons over as they try and enlarge their kids but can't replicate the accident.
The kids perform charades to tell them that the baseball is what caused the shrink ray to work by blocking the laser and allowing it to shrink things instead of blowing them up. Russ Sr insists they test the ray on him before the kids to insure it is safe. After successfully shrinking and regrowing him (despite a height and hat size change), they return their children to their normal size and the Szalinskis and the Thompsons embrace, and a friendship is formed between Russ Sr and Wayne.
At Thanksgiving the Szalinskis and the Thompsons get together over an enlarged turkey to eat as Quark eats a giant sized Milkbone. As they make their toast, Russ Jr and Amy play footsie under the table, hinting at a possible budding relationship between the two of them while Nick finally realizes the punchline to a joke Russ Jr had made after giving Amy artificial respiration earlier.
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