Classic Plotting

Despite its unconventional subject matter, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids is textbook in terms of narrative structure. We follow a few distinct but connected storylines, each of which resolves in a neat-and-tidy manner by the end of the film.

This ain't rocket science, folks. (It's shrink-ray science, though.)

For example, the main arc of the film is the kids' adventure across the yard. That's easy enough. In-between these bits of action, however, we follow Wayne and Diane Szalinski as they hustle to rebuild the shrink ray, as well as Big Russ and Mae Thompson as they struggle (and usually fail) to figure out what's going on. These storyline are all revolving around the same situation, but they don't come together until the film's closing minutes.

In other words, this thing doesn't reinvent the wheel—but why would you need to do that when you've already invented the shrink ray?