Rather long for a film like this, it could have made its point in 90 minutes and been even more entertaining. It takes at least a half an hour to get the story started after a long exposition sequences over scientific experiments which ends with supermarket assistant manager Martin Short being with a syringe that sends the shrunken Dennis Quaid soaring through his body, sending government agents after him, and creating a bizarre series of events that are more frustrating than amusing. Short must locate Quaid's girlfriend, reporter Meg Ryan, but this just puts everybody in danger.
While this is labeled as a science-fiction comedy, other than Short's presence, I felt nothing comical within it. In fact, this is rather intense and Short is in danger from the moment that the syringe is pricked into him. A lot of the stuff going on with Quaid inside Short's body was actually uncomfortable to hear about, and basically, the star of the film are the special effects, not the mega stars Quaid, Ryan and Short. Kevin McCarthy is a major bad guy, and there are some fun cameos by familiar faces including Kathleen Freeman, Henry Gibson, William Schallert, Joe Flaherty and Andrea Martin.
After a while outside of the special effects, it becomes very tedious, and you can see why this has not entered into the canon of classics from the Spielberg production team. They should have focused on the story as much as they did the special effects, so the direction of Joe Dante doesn't really stand up to snuff. Fiona Lewis is a rather severe scientist with Robert Picardo ridiculously over the top as a Mexican cowboy a little too impressed with himself. This may have been a hot summer blockbuster in 1987, but in film history, it's frozen as far as its Legacy is concerned.
While this is labeled as a science-fiction comedy, other than Short's presence, I felt nothing comical within it. In fact, this is rather intense and Short is in danger from the moment that the syringe is pricked into him. A lot of the stuff going on with Quaid inside Short's body was actually uncomfortable to hear about, and basically, the star of the film are the special effects, not the mega stars Quaid, Ryan and Short. Kevin McCarthy is a major bad guy, and there are some fun cameos by familiar faces including Kathleen Freeman, Henry Gibson, William Schallert, Joe Flaherty and Andrea Martin.
After a while outside of the special effects, it becomes very tedious, and you can see why this has not entered into the canon of classics from the Spielberg production team. They should have focused on the story as much as they did the special effects, so the direction of Joe Dante doesn't really stand up to snuff. Fiona Lewis is a rather severe scientist with Robert Picardo ridiculously over the top as a Mexican cowboy a little too impressed with himself. This may have been a hot summer blockbuster in 1987, but in film history, it's frozen as far as its Legacy is concerned.