The Vastly Different Novelization of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids

Hey, so this is more of a proof of concept blog than anything I'm fully on board doing. More an idea I've had for a while, but would love to see if there's a lot of interest to do more of these. Also, let me know of more novelizations that are vastly different from the final film should I keep this going.

Movies are an interesting medium. Taking a story and expanding it to a more visual medium. But what I don't think people truly realize is just how much time it takes to get that story to completion. Every film starts with a concept and then multiple drafts to get to the final work. As such, a lot of things can change in an instant, and the final product feels worlds apart from what it started as. There's also a more overlooked part of that movie development process that also gets lost to most people, and that's the movie novelization. Somewhat superfluous in nature by comparison to, you know, the movie and all, these books still released and usually sold well enough. 

But to make those novelizations, authors (notably the likes of a B.B. Hiller or an Elizabeth Faucher or a Todd Strasser) would be given access to the movie's script to then write a novel-sized version of the story for those adaptations. But because the novelizations are worked on rather early at times, the final product there can sometimes be massively different from what the film is. Sometimes it can contain lost scenes, like the scrapped opening from Home Alone II where the Wet Bandits are in jail having nightmares about Kevin, or pieces of things that were cut in general like the ending of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles where April and Danny try to sell the idea of a Ninja Turtles movie. And then there's cases where there's so much different that it almost feels like some weird bizarro world version of the movie that you got. And I think the best example I can give for that are the novelizations for Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.

Released by Disney in 1989, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids was a live action special effects spectacle created by Brian Yuzna, Ed Naha and Stuart Gordon. Which when you really think about it, the guys who made Re-Animator and Dolls making a children's movie explains a lot about that movie. The movie stars Rick Moranis as Wayne Szalinski, whose shrinking machine just can't seem to work. Until it does, shrinking his kids and the neighbors kids, who he then mistakenly sends into the backyard where the adventure aspect starts. The movie was a box office success, holding its own surprisingly well given it was up against Batman. You know Rick Moranis was in three movies that summer that all did really solid numbers? This, Ghostbusters II and Parenthood. Dude dominated the summer of 89.

It also had a very heavy development process and many, many changes in development. From original plans to cast Chevy Chase or John Candy, to many weaker names for the movie like "Teeny Weenies", "The Big Backyard" and "Grounded" (which would be the name for a video game based around the movie), it was a movie with a lot of changes as development went on. So much so that the screenplay given to Scholastic to make novelizations out of were so vastly different from the final film that, like I said earlier, it's almost night and day different. So, I'll recap the events of the book in the same way I do, treating it as a book and not a movie, to allow for my own commentary to flow better. I'll wrap it up in the conclusion on how the book holds against the final film as well as ANOTHER draft that you can find online that's even more different from the final film. So lot's to talk about.

I'll also be looking at the Elizabeth Faucher version of the novel which was released by Scholastic under their point line as it's a longer book, not the junior novelization which is the same but truncated. So let's dive in.

We open the book establishing our characters. First the Thompson boys. Russ is described as a rather weak looking teen who, due to pressure from his father, tries to lift weights and be athletic. His younger brother Ron however is pitching a tent and being noisy. We then go to the Szalinski residence with their exterior being described as unkempt. We're introduced to Amy, who is as old as Russ and described as tall and wearing glasses, and she slouches due to being self conscious about all that. Honey, I wrecked my posture. Nicholas is described as being short for a nine year old and having allergies both of the real and imaginary. Honey, I Raised a Hypochondriac. Their dad is upstairs while their mom... well, she has made a habit of not being around as much. Yeah, the movie tiptoes around this, but it's made far clearer that Wayne and Diane are about to divorce. 

Speaking of, Wayne works on his shrink ray and tries to shrink an apple, only for it to blow up. Nick and Amy bring him their poorly made scrambled eggs, but he hardly pays attention, more focused on why he can't get his machine to work. Honey, I'm kind of a negligent dad. He's as absent minded a professor as Fred MacMurray, hence why Diane calls him to remind him of everything and to hope things go well at the science conference where he has to do a presentation on a machine he can't even get to work. So, no pressure. Wayne leaves for the conference before chatting with Mr. Thompson, AKA Big Russ, who chides Wayne on his poor housekeeping, because heck, his wife's not into him, why not piss the neighbors off more?

Still angered, Big Russ takes his frustration out on his weakling son and his far more ambitious younger son. See, it's as much a story about poor parenting and neglect. Meanwhile, Ron swings a ball with his bat that goes through the attic window of the Szalinski house. The two families argue before Nick and Ron go up to get the ball. They notice all the tiny furniture when they get hit by a blast. While that goes down, Russ and Amy talk with Tommy Pervis who says he'll be back later to mow the lawn on account of needing new shoes. After that, Russ and Amy head up to find no sign of Nick and Russ. Amy ends up zapped first and as she gathers her bearings, they have to avoid the gigantic Russ who almost steps on them before he's taken down as well. 

After Wayne's failure at his presentation, he returns home, sees the broken glass and missing objects and cleans up, sweeping up his kids and the Thompson kids in the process, where he then throws them outside. So at this point it's close to one-to-one. Some notable shifts in things and a heavier use of "teeny weenies", which was the previous title for the movie. But stick with me, because from this point onward, a lot changes. From shifting events to completely different ways things go about. 

The foursome escape from the garbage bag and get their bearings in the giant backyard. Those bearings getting don't last long as a giant lawnmower pushed by Tommy Pervis passes by them. They hold on and manage to not die. They find themselves at a flower bed and climb a sunflower and bounce around like it's a trampoline until a bee arrives and ends up taking Russ and Nick. And the buzzing is described as sounding like the streets of London during a Nazi blitz. Okay then. I'm certain there are literally hundreds of ways to put that instead, but you do you book. Honey, I Tugged at My Collar. The bee flies around Tommy who almost swats it, but Russ manages to pull at the bee's wings and causes it to crash and burn on the ground.

Meanwhile,  Diane returns and she and Wayne are concerned about the kids mildly at this point. Wayne laments that the couch in the attic is missing, thinking it to be stolen, which is kind of hilarious that someone snuck into a house and instead of, I dunno, stealing a TV, valuables, or the giant death laser, they just really needed a couch. The two go out to the yard to check, while talking with the Thompsons as Amy and Ron try to run up to them and get their attention because yeah, that'll work. As the Szalinski parents leave, Mrs. Thompson notices the shape of their flower bed and sprays it with her hose, thereby causing a torrent of water to hit the kids. Russ and Nick wake up as the bee's pissed and ready to kill them, only for it to be smashed by the running water. 

Meanwhile, as Ron and Amy try to avoid the flood, they find a bottle cap and use it as a raft while Russ and Nick use a grass blade as a makeshift canoe. They meet up, only for Amy to fall out of the cap and into the water as it subsides. Yeah, more ambitious here than in the movie where it's the sprinklers being activated instead. Russ saves Amy and the foursome continue their trek. They find a giant Oreo cookie and start to eat it, only to encounter ants. They manage to get one of the ants to drive them onward. Meanwhile, Wayne starts to realize the shrink ray worked and realizes his actions, so he and Diane begin to paw through the trash, like two raccoons who shrunk some children.

As for the kids, they stop by the fence as Mr. Thompson is above them smoking a cigarette as his ashes rain upon them. Ron ends up getting stuck in some syrup that's just randomly by the fence and it's never explained why, but this is where I can actually bring up the other draft that's around as in that Ron is actually a pair of twins named Ron and Don who early in the story pour maple syrup on a bunch of flies, which yes, does sound like the origin story of a sociopath. Back to the book, Ron continues to sink as he also sees the corpses of flies all caught in the syrup. The cigarette butt flies near Ron and almost burns him as the others use a twig to try and move it, which ends up, holy shit, hitting one of the fly corpses and it catches on fire. 

As Wayne and Diane tell the Thompsons what's going on, the kids stop at a Lego block for the night. Now, in the movie, this is where the scorpion shows up out of friggin' nowhere and the ant dies. No scorpion here. In fact, no ant either. Yes, in this version of the story, Anty lives! Honey, They Didn't Kill the Ant! It was in the final release that they decided it needed to die in sacrifice. The next day, the kids arrive at the front step, which they're too small to even climb up one step. So Nick whistles for their dog Quark, which gets them into the house. But not before chasing the Thompson's cat Cicero through the street. But eventually they get the dog to take them home instead.

They make it to the kitchen table where Mr. and Mrs. Szalinski are out cold. They decide to make an arrow out of sugar and maybe they'll see the arrow and that'll do it? Only Wayne sneezes constantly and the force knocks Nick into the sugar bowl, giving us the Cheerios scene. I've heard rumors that there actually was a draft where Nick straight up gets eaten, but I can't confirm that. But imagine the absolute balls if they did that. Child vore: truly a staple of that old Disney magic. Anyway, Wayne finds Nick in time and everyone is taken to the attic lab to get them grown back. Only it works too well and Russ grows about fifteen fight tall. But it all gets fixed and everyone's back to normal. Later, everyone heads to Wayne's boss to prove the shrink ray works by having Big Russ ride in on a giant ant which hell, that's proof enough.

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And that's the novelization. And yeah, it's pretty damn different from the final film. Stuff like the scorpion is gone, some scenes like the lawnmower are super early, and we get the weird fly syrup scene and a more dramatic conclusion. But what I mostly gather from this draft and the one I'll talk more about briefly is that it was ambitious. A lot of the stuff presented in both the draft and the book feel more larger in scope than even the effects of the movie could provide. It also feels more roughshod with less cohesive reasoning for things to happen. The final product works much better as a total package, but stuff like how the flood scene goes would have been really neat to see happen with those full intentions out in the open.

So, I'll talk about that draft. It's mostly closer to this version of the book. There are a lot of wild differences there too. The climax with the kitchen table is presented way differently. They're on a sewing table, have to use a thread like a rope bridge and cross precariously from sewing table to kitchen table, then do the arrow thing. Again, wildly ambitious stuff. Speaks to what kind of works here in terms of the concept, and that's that it feels like something bound with imagination. It feels like a blank canvas where you can go as insane as possible with ambition, only to still be bogged down by what is feasible in the special effects you can do in the late 80s. 

How is it as a book? As a book it's fine. Has to be breakneck on everything so it feels like a ride book more than anything with any substantial heft to it. So in other words, it feels like it is, which is an unfinished draft. Closer in scope to the final product while also fine as a book. Although I do have to imagine being confused as hell if you read the book first. And I know this can't be the most extreme case of differing adaptations, so maybe somewhere down the line I'll make more of these if there's interest and good leads to more divergent books and movies.