so entertaining that there should be some kind of law pass against it and innerspace be a magnificently engage example of top drawer family entertainment and direct with charm and with and humour and imaginative verve by joe dante while despite gremlin arguably be his most iconic and popular film and innerspace may very well be his fine hour . in the 1980 and dante make some wildly enjoyable movie include gremlin and it sequel and explorer and the burbs and the howl while usually state of the art yet delightfully old fashion and nostalgic charming and thrilling and marvellously referential to older movie ( i would say dante do this good than nearly any other director ) and and with very imaginative story line fill with quirky character and surreal humour and generous lashing of excitement . it no surprise that steven spielberg often have a hand in the making of many of his film and though dante infuses his own offbeat style to the proceeding while dante get a agreeable sentimental streak and but he also get an anarchic one too and something that would reach full crazy fruition with gremlin 2. anyway and back to innerspace and which be a 1980 update of the fantastic voyage scenario and in which a man be miniaturise and inject into the body of another man while lieutenant tuck pendleton ( dennis quaid ) be the pilot agree be shrink down to near invisible proportion and then inject into the body of a rabbit and only for the experiment to be interrupt by evil rival scientist who want the all important microchip necessary for miniaturisation . somehow and pendleton find himself inject into hypochondriac supermarket clerk jack putter ( martin short ) and whose life be a mess and have be instruct by his doctor to take it very easy and and to avoid excitement at all cost while bad news for jack and great news for u . pendleton manage to make audio contact with jack from inside of him and and together they try and save pendleton before his air supply run out . meanwhile and other character start to get involve with the action and from pendleton ex girlfriend lydia ( meg ryan ) to the mysterious cowboy and the lethal mr. igoe ( a man with a detachable hand that can be replace with gun and white hot flame thrower and something slightly more pleasurable a briefly glimpse in one hilariously risqué sight gag ) and the evil mr. scrimshaw and a shrewd businessman who want the microchip to sell to the high bidder . i be a big fan of 1980 blockbuster and especially irreverent and imaginative fare like ghostbusters and back to the future and etc and not to mention masterworks such a spielberg early classic while in today era of big and big and not quite well spectacle and the 1980 equivalent of the big summer movie look more and more like a second golden age of entertainment than ever before and with lot of film that haven not date thanks to an abundance of great idea and freshness and with and great genre performance and a healthy blend of natural and human character and fantastic special and visual effect . these day and blockbuster be too big and too empty and too superficially monumental and make them agreeable thing to consume along with your popcorn at the cinema but prove to be hollow experience when experience on the small screen or even on a repeat view at the cinema . of course and there be exception and especially sam raimi delightful spider man movie and but for me and the late 70 and 1980 be where it all work best . it difficult to find a purely entertaining movie that not only have no flaw whatsoever and but whose virtue be almost consistently wonderful and but innerspace might be the one while dennis quaid never quite make it a a big a list star and but here he wonderfully likable and despite of ( actually and maybe because of ) his cockiness and smart attitude and and he manage to register a consistent strong presence throughout the film and even though he spend most of the time trap in his tiny ship and thanks to his performance and his excellent chemistry with martin short and who never quite hit the jackpot in another film quite the way he do here . here and he absolutely hilarious while wound up and stress and understandably amaze by just how insane this predicament he stumble into be ( at first and quite realistically and he think he lose his mind and maybe even possess ) . meg ryan be also very charm and engage a lydia ( very cute too and in the day before she milk say cuteness to disagreeable level in her 90 film ) and who tag along for the ride but doesn not get let in on the whole truth of the story for the most part . a the villain and kevin mccarthy ( a dante favourite ) be brilliantly funny a scrimshaw and while fiona lewis be very good a his man eat deputy sidekick . a mr. igoe and vernon well and a. k. a and the campiest villain ever ( a see in commando ) and manage to be genuinely chill and scary for the second and last time in his career a a bad guy ( the first be mad max 2 ) and while robert picardo be painfully funny a the cowboy while on an added note and his method of seduce woman in nightclubs use an imaginary lasso do not work in real life . not that i have try and of course . great comic support come from henry gibson a jack bos at work and and wendy schaal a jack confuse and selfish co worker . the action be wonderfully stag and sometimes quite suspenseful and especially mr. igoe pursuit of the syringe early on in the film and a hilarious moment where jack be fly off of the back door of a van and a terrifically exciting encounter with a freshly shrunken mr. igoe and pendleton above jack acid rag stomach . the special effect be marvellous and especially when the film take u inside jack body while these moment be often breathtaking and while there even a lovely moment when pendleton temporarily find himself inside lydia and he see their unborn child . the film be also hilarious and with countless great gag and a near perfect balance between humour and excitement . by the end and you will be leave breathless and and yet it still manage to conclude on a delightful open note . innerspace be one of my all time favourite movie and one i still enjoy thoroughly every time i watch it .