Innerspace – 1987 (WINNER)
This was a movie to which I’d been looking forward, having never seen it before. As the opening credits began to roll, I was surprised to find Stephen Spielberg’s name attached to the film as an executive producer. The effects were plentiful, and all of them were done quite well. Of course, I think that most people remember the film for Martin Short’s wonderfully comic performance, not the excellent visual effects.
This movie was a modern take on the 1966 film, Fantastic Voyage. However, as that movie was a serious Sci-fi film, this one was written as a zany comedy. Still, that being said, many of their visuals were much more realistic in their execution than their predecessor. For example, in Fantastic Voyage, the interior of the human body was generally well-lit, and everything was illuminated to be brightly colored, as if the interior of the body is rainbow hued. In this film, the interior of the body was appropriately dark, and the internal organs were more flesh-toned. We also got to see more of the incredible environments than in Fantastic Voyage.
In Innerspace, we are treated to a little journey through the human body that included things like the ocular nerve behind the eye, the inner ear, the esophagus, the exterior of the heart, a collection of fat cells, the stomach, which sported a terrible ulcer, and a pregnant woman’s womb, which displayed a realistic looking fetus. I thought the scene behind the eye was particularly interesting, as you could see the glow of light coming in through the orb of the eyeball. It was very cleverly displayed, and even intellectually fascinating.
But there was so much more than just the inside of the human body. There were stunts, and funny hijinks as people are shrunk to half-size. The most memorable stunt was when Martin Short is hanging onto an open door that is swinging from the back of a speeding freezer truck. He ends up standing on the windshield frame of a convertible, and then falling into the passenger’s seat. That was pretty cool. And the half-sized villains were very funny, too. In both cases, the effects were hilariously executed, though when the miniaturized man attacks Short as he is driving, it was pretty obvious when the small man was replaced with a puppet.
Probably one of the zaniest gags in the film is when Short’s face is transformed into Robert Picardo’s face. It is important to note that this was before the modern era of CGI, and the crazy morph was shown as a fast blur while the character’s head thrashed back and forth. It was very funny, but suspension of disbelief must be employed. Just to watch the comedian’s antics and facial acrobatics was worth the price of admission!
But even as I look back on the film’s visual effects, I am hard pressed to find any real flaws, which tells me that the film deserved its Oscar win. And as for the story, well, it was supposed to be silly, so in that, it succeeded. To their credit, the special effects went a long way to furthering that comical agenda.