JOE DANTE DIRECTS INNERSPACE

year: 1987 cast: Dennis Quaid, Martin Short, Meg Ryan, Dick Miller, Robert Picardo rating: ***

THE RIGHT STUFF stud Dennis Quaid plays another cocky test pilot – this time he’s transformed into a cell-sized explorer placed inside the body of Martin Short in this modernized FANTASTIC VOYAGE directed by Joe Dante, whose prior edgy thrillers like PIRANHA and THE HOWLING are only reminiscent in the lethal assassins that really mean business.

Quaid was supposed to go inside a test rabbit but the experiment leader is hunted and killed, and after desperately injecting everyman Short, the chase is on. Meg Ryan is Quaid’s journalist girlfriend aiding Short in the old school runaround action that, after characters are introduced (and others are shrunken to dwarves), gets way too complicated for its own good.

There are relatively few scenes inside the human body. Most of the film has Short providing physical comedy as Quaid roves around within. Although they hardly share screen together, both have great chemistry. And while Dante stock actors Robert Picardo and Kevin McCarthy are nice to have on board, there are too many cooks and the running time drags on thirty minutes too long.

Director Joe Dante seems at home with the science aspect – especially the ten-minute setup to the initial human shrinking, which looks real and makes everything else seem legit.

Meg Ryan with Joe Dante favorite Dick Miller

The film's other blonde beauty, Wendy Schaal

Martin Short, Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan BUY DVD