Innerspace

• USA • 1987 • 120m •

• Directed by: Joe Dante. • Starring: Dennis Quaid, Martin Short, Meg Ryan, Kevin McCarthy, Fiona Lewis, Vernon Wells, Robert Picardo, Wendy Schaal, Harold Sylvester, William Schallert, Henry Gibson, John Hora, Mark L. Taylor. • Music by: Jerry Goldsmith.

Tuck Pendleton is a cocky pilot, who is taking part in a miniaturization experiment. When some bad guys break into the lab to steal the technology, one of the scientists takes a syringe which contains the miniaturized Tuck and vessel. Now in the vessel is part of the material needed to restore him. But the other part which is the lab is stolen. The scientist's shot but before dying he injects Tuck into Jack Putter, a hypochondriac, who feels that something is wrong with him all the time. When Tuck links himself to Jack's systems, he discovers that something happened. So they go back to the lab, and discover what happened. Now they are told that unless they retrieve the material that was stolen they won't be able to restore Tuck before his oxygen is depleted. Now the government rep decides that the only thing that matters that as long as they have the other half of the material, it is useless to the thieves. So Tuck eggs Jack to go out and find the thieves. They enlist the aid of ...

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Spanish Trailer

1:49

Trailer

1:28

TV Spot #01

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Review:

One of those quintessential family movies of the 1980s, INNERSPACE turns out not to have dated a bit since it was first release. The story, which is heavily indebted to the '60s movie FANTASTIC VOYAGE, sees Dennis Quaid shrunk down to miniature size and injected into the body of super-nerd Martin Short. What follows plays out as a live action cartoon, which is no surprise with Joe Dante at the helm. Dante is one of those directors who doesn't know how to make an unappealing movie, and INNERSPACE is one of his most entertaining efforts.

I've never been a huge fan of Dennis Quaid, and his performance here is hardly endearing: he plays a rude, arrogant, loud-mouthed drunk for much of the film, and casting Meg Ryan as his insipid girlfriend isn't much help either. Still, I do like Martin Short, and his turn here is rather endearing and genuinely funny, especially when infused with the clumsy slapstick style of humour. Dante has a great eye for a supporting cast, fleshing out roles for the likes of old-timer Kevin McCarthy (a ball as the bad guy), Vernon Wells as the hit-man, Fiona Lewis, Robert Picardo as an unlikely cowboy and, of course, Dick Miller.

The script is light and airy and never lets itself get bogged down in science. The journeys inside the body are excellent and have all the imagination of an outer space classic. Finally, we get Rob Bottin contributing some literally jaw-dropping FX work, which rounds out the package nicely. The 1980s may well have been the decade that taste forgot, but they sure knew how to make a fun movie back then.

Review by Leofwine_draca from the Internet Movie Database.