Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.5

Honey, I Blew Up the Kid Blu-ray Movie Review

Attack of the 50 Foot Toddler.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman August 16, 2017

Honey, I Blew Up the Kid takes the obvious direction for a sequel to the Family hit Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, reversing the human miniaturization story in favor of enlarging a person, in this case a little boy in his "terrible twos." Unfortunately, the basics are about all the movie gets right. Rather than a practically magical movie that puts the world into a different perspective, this one barely plays with scale at all, failing to innovate and depending on, essentially, a reversal switch-flip from first film to second. The film lacks the sense of awe and spectacle of the first. It offers decent baseline entertainment, and it's nice to see the core cast and characters return for a second go, but audiences shouldn't expect much more than a basic, paint-by-numbers sequel that takes neither the characters nor the franchise in any meaningful or memorable directions.

The Szalinski family has moved to the Vegas suburbs. Wayne (Rick Moranis), ever still the inventor, is working with a high-tech firm to reverse his miniaturization laser and use it to enlarge objects. He's shunned and dismissed by his co-workers, but he knows he's on the verge of something special. His daughter Amy (Amy O'Neil) is headed off to college, and Wayne's wife Dianne (Marcia Strassman) is seeing her off. Nick (Robert Oliveri) has grown into a self-conscience teenager who has taken up guitar and hopes to escape the nerd genes so he might date the beautiful Mandy (Keri Russell), a classmate on whom he has a crush. The family has also welcomed a new addition: Adam (Daniel & Joshua Shalikar), a two-year-old toddler with a penchant for escaping confinement, be it his high-tech playpen or his low-tech stroller. Wayne takes Nick and Adam to the lab for a quick bit of work on the laser, but of course, as seems to be family tradition, Adam manages to step in front of it. His transformation isn't instant. He grows steadily, but surely, until even the Szalinski house cannot contain him. Adam makes his way to the Vegas strip where the fates of locals, tourists, and he himself hang in the balance.

Honey, I Blew Up the Kid amounts to little more than a cute and cuddly baby-take on any number of similar "large creature in the human world" movies like Godzilla or King Kong in any of their numerous permutations. Sure, that the large creature is a human baby with crude motor skills, limited speech, and an inability to understand what is happening, why, and cooperate with any effort to find a solution gives the story a little twist, but the movie just doesn't do anything all that interesting with any of it. It's a typical one-trick pony that wears out its trick early on and never does anything to recover or to innovate. It advances through predictability, foreshadowing key moments like Adam's urge to play the Hard Rock Café decorative guitar that's just the right size for him to handle at 50 feet. The film plays around with a clunky, been-there romance plot between the pubescent and still somewhat nerdy Nick and his crush, who of course comes to better know and understand him through the course of the film. The performances are fine, at a base level, but they all, even from Moranis, lack the enthusiasm of the first, though it's likely due to an insipid script that gives them little reason to care.

Honey, I Blew Up the Kid Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Honey, I Blew Up the Kid's 1080p transfer isn't quite as excellent as that of its predecessor. Fine detail is more or less adequate, though a slightly soft veneer doesn't allow even the most would-be robust textures to fully stretch. Faces and clothes are lacking serious precision, even blown up large, like the pocket in which Nick and Mandy find themselves during the film's third act. Some exterior elements look nice enough, though, like vegetation and brick outside the Szalinski home or some of the more complex fixtures around Vegas. Grain is much less impressively organic here compared to the first. It's mushier and noisier, lacking that fine complimentary and filmic veneer. Colors push a hair warm and while there's enough baseline punch and vitality to satisfy any given frame's requirements, they never really explode off the screen. Black levels, largely nighttime Vegas backgrounds, are fine. This is hardly a memorable transfer, but it carries the movie well enough.

Honey, I Blew Up the Kid Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Honey, I Blew Up the Kid features a competent DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. Surround usage is sparse but effective and noticeable when implemented. Whether deflating balloons on the title screen, crashes during Adam's escape from his house, whirring helicopter rotors, or giant Adam waving a car around, the few brief spurts of heightened back-channel immersion do add a bit of joy and vitality to the proceedings. Otherwise, it's strictly front-end heavy. Music finds pleasant width and clarity and dialogue is well defined, prioritized, and positioned.

Honey, I Blew Up the Kid Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This Disney Movie Club exclusive Blu-ray release of Honey, I Blew Up the Kid contains no supplemental content.

Honey, I Blew Up the Kid Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Honey, I Blew Up the Kid is a typical lesser sequel that returns the same cast and characters and logically follow up on the first by, essentially, reversing the process, but it's otherwise a dull, poorly paced, and unimaginative film. A few good moments cannot hide unenthusiastic performances, visuals that are far less dynamic and memorable, and a story that leaves the audience wanting much more. Disney's Blu-ray is currently exclusive to its online movie club. Video is decent, ditto audio, and no extras are included. Skip it.