Innerspace (1987)

An 80's classic. Dennis Quaid plays Lt. Tuck Pendleton, a cocky pilot taking part in a revolutionary experiment. Think NASA and space exploration but on a much smaller scope... think smaller, and then smaller still. Tuck Pendleton is taking place in a miniaturization experiment where his ship is going to be shrunk with him in it, and then he's going to be injected into an animal to explore. Like all good 80's capers things go wrong. The lab conducting the experiment is targeted by a squad of goons working for a rival, instead of an animal (a rabbit FTR); Pendleton is accidentally injected into hapless store clerk Jack Putter, played by Martin Short. And so, the adventure begins. Putter has to race against time with Pendleton inside him to resolve the accident, failure to do so will result in Pendleton growing to normal size while inside Putter - which will be a bloody mess. Although I'm not a fan of Martin Short, the casting is good in this film. There is a great balance between Quaid's very confident persona, and Short's shy, paranoid and hypochondriac portrayal. The special effects in this film, in particularly the shots which were supposed to be inside of a human body look a little dated now as my trained eye can see the mesh from green screen to genuine footage - but when I watched this as a child I was awestruck at how authentic it looked. This was a great family movie in 1987 and due to a decent story this film is still a great family movie, falling into the sci-fi/adventure genre. Think "Fantastic Voyage" with an 80's soundtrack and a bigger budget. 7 out of 10

Joe Dante reworks Fantastic Voyage into a buddy comedy for Dennis Quaid and Martin Short. Quaid plays a cocky fighter pilot who is chosen to take part in an experiment where he will have to test a miniaturized craft. While inside the machine Quaid is shrunk down to microscopic size. But some bad guys try to hijack the experiment and Quaid winds up injected into the body of a hypochondriac grocery store clerk played by Martin Short. From there, hijinks ensue.Quaid is annoying, as he almost always was and is. His Joker smile and constant mugging grates on the nerves in the early scenes. He's better when things settle down some. Martin Short is the best part of the cast. Very funny and likable. Always love seeing a pretty young Meg Ryan. Although it reminds me of what she's done to herself since, which is tragic. Kind of the same feeling I get when watching young Melanie Griffith. This is a fun movie. Joe Dante gets to play with special effects and comedy, which is right in his wheelhouse. It's not as interesting or innovative as Fantastic Voyage but it's a very enjoyable movie in its own right.

THE RIGHT STUFF stud Dennis Quaid plays another cocky test pilot – this time he's transformed into a cell-sized explorer placed inside the body of Martin Short in this modernized FANTASTIC VOYAGE directed by Joe Dante, whose prior edgy thrillers like PIRANHA and THE HOWLING are only reminiscent in the lethal assassins that really mean business.Quaid was supposed to go inside a test rabbit but the experiment leader is hunted and killed, and after desperately injecting everyman Short, the chase is on. Meg Ryan is Quaid's journalist girlfriend aiding Short in the old school runaround action that, after characters are introduced (and others are shrunken to dwarfs), gets way too complicated for its own good.There are relatively few scenes inside the human body. Most of the film has Short providing physical comedy as Quaid roves around within. Although they hardly share screen together, both have great chemistry. And while Dante stock actors Robert Picardo and Kevin McCarthy are nice to have on board, there are too many cooks and the running time drags on thirty minutes too long.Yet Joe seems at home with the science aspect – especially the ten-minute setup to the initial human shrinking, which looks real and makes everything else seem legit.For More Reviews: www.cultfilmfreaks.com

Concept has plenty of potential. Cocky young Navy lieutenant Dennis Quaid is to be miniaturized in a kind of innerspace pod and injected into a laboratory rabbit named Bug where, in visual and audio contact with the lab personnel in Silicon Valley, he will explore the leporine internal milieu.The two tiny computer chips that make miniaturization and later restoration possible are extremely valuable, so bad guys stage a raid on the lab. The hypodermic syringe with the miniature pod is rushed out of the lab and injected by accident into the Assistant Manager of a local Safeway, Martin Short, who is a hypochondriac and a coward. The bad guys quickly identify Short and are in pursuit of him and the puzzled Quaid.Quaid is right for the part, and so is Martin Short whose features are goofy but not unpleasant. Quaid establishes contact with the terrified short and together they sweep up Quaid's girl friend, Meg Ryan, into the chase, which constitutes the entirety of the plot. Boy, she's cute. Two of Short's colleagues from SCTV show up -- Joe Flaherty and Andrea Martin. The bad guy is Kevin McCarthy, star of the science-fiction classic "Invasion of the Body Snatchers," and a bit part in a men's room is given to Kenneth Toby, the Air Force Captain from "The Thing From Another World." Alas, the movie, having established the tenets of the comic adventure, runs out of steam almost at once and becomes a frenzied succession of shouts, gun shots, car chases, delirious antics, and ridiculous fights. At least it can be said that it spare us much sentiment. I only winced once, when Quaid accidentally is transferred to the inside of his girl friend and discovers she's pregnant, and there is romantic music as Quaid's eyes light up and he mutters to himself, "I'm a Dad," and the viewer pendiculates.There are some fine comedies that came out around the same time -- "The Witches of Eastwick," "The Freshman," "Analyze This" -- but this doesn't belong in the same category. This one substitutes speed for wit. All the attention seems to have been lavished on special effects and action, while the dialog and any humor associated with character has been ignored.The kids might enjoy it more than the adults.