The fifth episode of Disney Plus’s Prop Culture features the classic family film Honey, I Shrunk The Kids. An adventure through space and size, this film features a smorgasbord of fantastical inventions and unbelievable objects as inventor Wayne Szalinski (Rick Moranis)’s Shrink Ray accidentally shrinks his kids, sending them into a tiny world of adventure and risk. Prop collector Dan Lanigan guides viewers through cinematic history through some of Disney’s best and least-known movie props along with an impressive roster of a-list filmmakers and technicians.
Beginning in Burbank, California, Lanigan searches for the shrink ray, what he deems “the most important and complex prop” in the film. The device is a catalyst for the film’s narrative arc, used to shrink the eponymous kids. Rick Lorentz, archivist at the Walt Disney Archives explains how the shrink ray underwent numerous modifications for the film and its sequels. Briefly housed in Disney/MGM studios, where Lanigan first encountered it, Lanigan explains how seeing this item inspired him to become further invested in prop collection and memorabilia.
Joe Johnston, director of the film, explains how he happened upon a job on Star Wars, designed hundreds of iconic cinematic pieces and eventually directed numerous films himself. Together they analyze the shrink ray, which is markedly different from Johnston’s original ray. Conception focused on functionality and aesthetics, aiming to be both realistic and visually reflective of its mad genius inventor. With permission from The Walt Disney Archives, Lanigan sends the shrink ray to Oscar-award winning special effects expert Martin Meunier to be restored to its original state. Meunier explains the difficulties in replicating parts that no longer exist from scratch. Together with the Director of the Walt Disney Archives, Rebecca Cline, Lanigan unveils the restored Shrink Ray, which Cline describes as, “the primo piece that explains [the movie].”
The film’s prop master, Brad Einhorn, showcases the burnt baseball that shrunk the kids, signed by the original cast members. Dave Sosalla, Miniatures Supervisor, displays a number of stop-motion puppets, including teeny-tiny kids and larger-than-life ants. Along with Jared Rushton (Ron), Thomas Brown (Russ), Amy O’Neill (Amy), Lanigan visits one of the original giant ant sculptures created specifically for interactions with the cast. These giant ants bucked, fought, and died, allowing actors to realistically interact with their allies. Stop Motion Artist Phil Tippett shows Lanigan one of the original scorpion sculptures, explaining the specific research that they had to do to find the right movements, light, and adjustments for the monster.
Star Rick Moranis sits down with Lanigan, reminiscing about the many pairs of glasses that Moranis has stolen from film sets over the years, including his pair from Honey, I Shrunk The Kids. Moranis explains how important props are in the process of building a character.
Throughout the episode, it becomes evident that Honey, I Shrunk The Kids is all about its props, around which an imaginative world of science fiction, adventure, and family coalesced into one of the most iconic films of the 80s. Lanigan and friends frequently comment on how, if made today, these props would likely not exist, noting contemporary cinema’s dependence on computer-animated technologies rather than practical effects. There’s a nostalgia that threads through the episode, as Lanigan proudly cherishes these iconic objects and the memories that they hold.
