16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A fun "Fantastic Voyage" update!, February 20, 2005
I'm a big fan of this film. BIG fan. It struck a chord with me back in 1987, and I love it to this day.
It's a Joe Dante film, with early performances by Dennis Quaid, Martin Short and Meg Ryan.
It's goofier than all get out; here's the synopsis.
Dennis Quaid is a loose cannon test pilot with a bit of an alcohol problem, who gets "demoted" to a secret military program involving miniaturization. He is to be shrunk down, along with a mini-submarine, and injected into a lab rabbit, to test things like the ability to hook up to a host's optic or auditory nerve.
Meg Ryan plays a reporter, romantically involved with Quaid, but for the moment, estranged.
Martin Short plays a hypochondriac supermarket assistant manager.
So, Quaid gets shrunk right before "the bad guys" (led by an over-the-top Kevin McCarthy) invade the laboratory, and in his last act as a living person, the escaping lead investigator injects the microscopic Quaid into Short's left buttock.
Hilarity ensues.
I didn't really care much for the whole "stealing technology" plot thread (there's a very early role by Robert Picardo), but it's there as a scaffold, just to watch Quaid and Short deal with each other. And that's really a joy to watch.
The one scene in the doctor's office, with Quaid finally patched into Short's inner ear, is hysterical. Short gets to mug opposite old friends (and SCTV alums) Joe Flaherty and Andrea Martin...I've seen it a hundred times yet I still laugh every time.
Yes, there are a lot of clunky lines and bits of extreme over-acting. If you have a problem with either Dennis Quaid or Martin Short, it'll be tough for you to like this movie. Overthink this movie, and you're doing yourself a disservice.
On the other hand, if you like either of those two guys, and are in the mood for a fun romp, this is well worth a viewing. You'll love seeing about a dozen character actors, sprinkled in small roles like Short's doctor, the supermarket manager, Ryan's co-workers...you've seen them in a million movies, and they're perfectly cast here. The 80's fashions and music are an unintentional riot in and of themselves.
They DO up the class level when they selected Sam Cooke songs as the key tunes to the film though.
The DVD looks great...the red Mustang just pops right off the screen. Some of the effects reveal their age (in particular the non-inside-the-body ones), but the scenes inside Martin Short STILL look terrific!
Nice sonics with crisp details.
Depending on your child's exposure to the four-letter word describing excrement (it's used about half a dozen times or so...), this movie is appropriate for a large age range. It's really just a simple lark of a film.
And I still find it to be most enjoyable...
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Great Sci-Fi/Comedy From The Creators of Gremlins!, July 31, 2002
Hey, movie viewers! If you liked Gremlins, you MUST see this great 1987 film! It is about a ex-Lieutenant of the U.S. Marines, Tuck Pendleton (Dennis Quaid, Any Given Sunday), who is the subject of a minaturization experiment, which requires 2 microchips. He gets inside a submersible pod, is minaturized down to a microscopic size, placed in a syringe, and is supposed to be injected into a bunny named BUGS!! However, a bunch of criminals, disguised as phone repairmen, break into the laboratory and steal one of the chips. But, a good friend of Tuck's who works at the lab, Ozzie, takes the syringe, runs off, is chased to a mall, and shot. Fortunately, he lives long enough to run into a nerdy hypochondriac named Jack (Martin Short, Primetime Glick), and injects Tuck into him. Later on, Tuck finds out he is in a man, then establishes contact with Jack by placing an amplifier in his ear, and attaches a camera to his eye to see what Jack sees, and tells him what is going on and that he only has 'til 9:00 a.m. tomorrow to get out of him before his air supply runs out. Tuck tells him to go find his girlfriend (Meg Ryan, Hanging Up), and get help from her to recover the chip and save Tuck. This film is a GREAT sci-fi/comedy, and is from the creators of Gremlins (producer Steven Spielberg and director Joe Dante). It is also based on the 1966 film Fantastic Voyage. Like Gremlins, it is also a VERY good family classic. So, if you liked Gremlins, then you HAVE to see this movie! It's REAL KOOL!
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
That Little Voice Inside of You, August 6, 2002
I thought this was a harmless little comedy version of "Fantastic Voyage", quite cute. Pilot Dennis Quaid gets shrunk down to be injected into a rabbit, but goofy Martin Short gets in the way of the hypo. So Quaid has to navigate his way around Short and make up with his girlfriend Meg Ryan at the same time, through Short. But there are nasty evildoers trying to stand in the way of all this getting accomplished, most notably Kevin McCarthy of "Body Snatchers" fame from the 1950s. He and his female accomplice also get squirted with some of the miniaturizing stuff, but merely become little midgets battling it out in a car. That was a great silly moment.
Listen to that little voice, and laugh a lot at "Innerspace".
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