Innerspace

Innerspace is assured a place in the Hollywood history books as the movie which brought Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan together as one of cinema's most famous couples. The film itself belongs among a series of feelgood fantasies presented by Steven Spielberg in the 1980s, including Back to the Future (1984) and from the same director, Joe Dante, Gremlins (1983).

Innerspace offers Dante's usual mixture of comedy, exciting action and fantasy, the plot being a variation on Fantastic Voyage (1966). Test pilot Quaid is miniaturised and as a result of a bungled attempt to steal the new experimental technology, accidentally injected into the body of a deeply stressed and insecure Martin Short. Quaid is charismatic and commanding, Ryan gives an early demonstration of her patent romantic comedy persona, but it's Short's picture as he delivers a perfectly nuanced performance pitched between slapstick and paranoia. The Oscar-winning special effects enhance rather than dominate the story, which, though it gets a bit too silly in places, is generally inventive and sufficiently action packed to sustain the almost two-hour running time. Jerry Goldsmith's muscular score is a major asset, while in-joke spotters will have fun picking out everyone from Chuck Jones to William Schallert (the doctor in The Incredible Shrinking Man (1! 957)).

On the DVD: Innerspace on disc has a group commentary with director Joe Dante, producer Michael Finnell, visual effects supervisor Dennis Muren and actor Kevin McCarthy. This is engaging if far from riveting. The original trailer is anamorphically enhanced and there are two perfunctory pages listing cast, crew and the film's Oscar for special effects. The original Dolby Spectral soundtrack has been remixed into Dolby Digital 5.1 and is bold, clear and powerful. The picture is presented at 1.78:1 and is a virtually flawless transfer: colours are rich, detail levels are high and the only trace of grain is in a few particularly high contrast shots.--Gary S. Dalkin