The Szalinski Abode

Although we spend the entirety of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids in and around the Szalinski household, we see this home from two very different angles—and we mean that in every possible way.

Cribs: Mad Scientist Edition

Even before we get cut down to size, the Szalinski abode is far from average. Wayne Szalinski is a mad scientist-style inventor, so his home is filled to the brim with crazy DIY inventions, including a pre-text message system of communicating throughout the house. It's awesome; we're jealous.

But even if you think that all of these contraptions are lame, however, they serve to emphasize Wayne's unique brand of scientific weirdness.

In a similar way, the house's messy state reflects the turmoil that the Szalinski clan is currently embroiled in. With Diane Szalinski, the family's matriarch, spending a few days with her mother on account of being exhausted by her husband's madness, the house is an absolute pigsty. This becomes unsurprising after we see Wayne shirk his cleaning responsibilities to pitch his shrink ray at a business conference.

A Different Perspective

We get a whole new perspective on this crazy household when the kids are shrunk. The cool part about this is that we're seeing a bunch of stuff we see every day: grass, flowers, snacks, toys, and even insects. But what's notable is how we see them. These things that we take for granted every day are blown up to massive size (relatively speaking, of course) giving the whole proceedings a distorted, funhouse mirror feel.

By depicting this very normal setting in a very abnormal way, the film is forcing us to take a closer look at the things we take for granted every day. We might never be able to sit inside a Lego brick or swim in a bowl of cereal, but the film forces us to remember that the way we perceive the world is defined by our current circumstances and situation.