Honey, I Shrunk the Kids is a 1989 American comic science fiction film. The first installment of the film series was the directorial debut of Joe Johnston and produced by Walt Disney Pictures. The plot involves the story of an inventor who accidentally shrinks his own and his next door neighbor's children to a quarter of an inch (6 mm) with his electromagnetic shrinking machine and accidentally throws them out with the trash, where they must venture into their backyard to return home while fending off insects and negotiating hazards.