In a way when Rick Moranis claims that he didn’t want to revisit the past when asked to show up for the upcoming Ghostbusters sequel it would have been fine and dandy to think that he was completely comfortable as he was. Seeing as how he’s been in talks to star in the movie Shrunk, the reboot to the Honey I Shrunk the Kids movies, it might ruffle a few feathers but not in any lasting way since fans have been wanting to see him return for a while now and it’s likely that this might be the best way to go about it. As Kevin Burwick of MovieWeb mentions it could be that Rick has a bit of a soft spot for the movie and could be more inclined to come back to assume the role of Wayne Zsalinski once again, this time starring along Josh Gad, who would play his grown son Nick. Whether the premise of the story would be exactly the same or something would be changed is hard to say since there’s a lot that can be done with shrinking technology that’s been placed in a movie but there’s also only so many ways that it’s been used to date and if Disney is looking to repeat or even replicate the past it’s easy to think that this is going to be more of a gimmick than anything and Moranis’ return isn’t going to be quite as monumental.
It will be welcome, there’s no doubt about that. His return has been desired for years and despite the voice parts he’s contributed now and again he’s kept himself off camera since the 90s when he decided to focus on his kids following the unfortunate passing of his wife. Looking back on his career though it’s easy to see why a lot of people have been wanting him back for so long since a good number of his roles have been nothing short of iconic and have been carried over to current generations since despite the difference in time periods he’s still been seen as one of the funniest comedic actors out there and someone that’s easy to look up to. From Strange Brew to Spaceballs to Honey I Shrunk the Kids he’s been that kind of comedian that can get down and dirty just as well as anyone, but still manages to come off as the kind of guy that fans feel they can ask just about anything and he’ll answer with complete honesty. Simon Brew of Den of Geek! has a few things to say about Rick’s many different appearances.
The original movie did spawn two sequels but they never did manage to reach the same level of approval among fans that the first movie did since the third installment was a direct to video release that a lot of people might not even know about. In the second movie however his son Nick had grown up a bit and he and his wife had another child that was insanely smart for his age and was a bit of an escape artist that defeated every attempt Wayne made to keep him in his playpen. What that meant of course was that the kid managed to get out, find his father’s shrink ray, and somehow reverse the polarity so that it would gradually make him bigger and bigger as the movie went along, until at one point he was the size of a skyscraper and almost impossible to manage. Hey, if a rat can scamper across a console in Endgame and somehow bring Scott Lang back then something like this was ahead of it’s time and definitely within the realm of rationality for the movies. Of course eventually his mom decided to enlarge herself, thinking that only his mother was going to be able to calm him down since back then mom was still the one that a lot of people figured was the primary parent that children went to when they were in distress. Yes, it was a gender role moment in an era when such things didn’t bother a lot of viewers or prompt activist groups to lead marches or protests about gender norms and such. But anyway, the second movie almost felt like it had to be forcefully pushed on audiences as watching it just for a few moments made it clear how the action was going to go down and that Wayne and his wife really weren’t paying as much attention to their children as they needed to.
Let me repeat though, it would be a welcome sight to see Rick Moranis come back, but hopefully Disney would change a few things around and tighten up the story just enough that the older fans along with the younger fans might be able to fully enjoy it and not point out so many inconsistencies with ease. There are already people that are going to be more than willing to do this, giving them more ammo isn’t really necessary.
P.S. – that rumor was debunked 24 hours later – shucks!
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