InnerSpace (1987) 4K UHD Review | Arrow Video | An IMPRESSIVE Release On EVERY Level!

Added: 2026-05-06

[00:00:00][music] [music] >> What's going on everybody? Welcome back to the Mid Level Media channel. Today I've got another 4K review for you.

[00:00:17]We're going to be talking about Innerspace on 4K from Arrow Video.

[00:00:21]Another nice chunky box edition. Look at this thing, guys. I always say that, don't I? I always say, "Look at this thing, guys." I don't I mean, look look at it. One of my favorite pastimes, you know, on this channel is reviewing Arrow Video chunky box editions and there's no shortage of those lately. Arrow Video has been providing us with a lot of good ones this year. We've had a Westworld, we've had Excalibur, we had Salem's Lot last month and now we've got Innerspace on 4K, which is a Joe Dante 80s science fiction adventure classic that I had never seen until now, guys. Yes, I'd never seen this film. So, we're going to get into this. We're going to get into my first time viewing experience with the movie. We're going to talk about the 4K quality as well. Dive into the special features. Do an unboxing of this. Did Did I say this before?

[00:01:14]Incredible box set edition. Before we get into it, guys, I'm I'm in a mood today. I don't know what it is. Um like, comment, subscribe uh to the channel. I would appreciate that. Also, hype the video.

[00:01:25]Hyping the video is a great way to show your support and also help out this video's reach on YouTube and just help out the channel as a whole. So, I would appreciate um that as well. And let me know in the comment section below. This is a movie that came out in 1987.

[00:01:41]Let me know if you've got fond memories with this one. Let me know if this is one that you remember watching, renting at the video store, watching on cable.

[00:01:48]Are you going to be getting this big chunky box edition from Arrow Video? Let me know all that in the comment section below. I do want to add that not only is there a 4K chunky box edition and it's going for currently 38.97. There's also a Blu-ray chunky box edition that's going for 32.87. So, if you're not so beholden to the 4K format, if you're okay just getting a Blu-ray and the Blu-ray is going to have a 4K scan. It's still going to look really good as well.

[00:02:14]It's just not going to have that HDR and Dolby Vision. But, if you want to save yourself a a few bucks, you know, maybe get the Blu-ray edition. You're still going to get all the features, still going to get the packaging, all the bells and whistles. I also want to tell you guys that this is coming out on April the 28th. Um so, I should be a little bit early in getting this review out. I should have this out maybe a full week um before it actually releases and it's available on Amazon for the price points that I just I just called out and I'm going to be linking um both of those editions down below in the description as well. Now that we got all that out of the way, right? Uh let's get into the movie itself. Talk about Innerspace. So, like I said, this movie came out in 1987.

[00:02:51]It is directed by the legendary director Joe Dante. I think that's fair to say.

[00:02:56]Joe Dante has had a lot of very um legendary movies in his day. I feel like some of them were kind of cult hits when they came out, but they've definitely grown in popularity over the year. I mean, the most notable one obviously is Gremlins. But, he he directed like maybe my favorite sequel of all time, Gremlins 2. Can we get a chunky box set of Gremlins 2? It's starring Dennis Quaid.

[00:03:20]You have got uh Meg Ryan in this movie really before Meg Ryan was anybody. Um she was in this movie. I don't think she had done much. I think she'd done one movie and a bunch of soap operas and she wouldn't have her huge hit until When Harry Met Sally a couple years later, but she's in this movie, one of her like first big kind of starring roles and then you got Martin Short as well. So, the cast is great and then a bunch of like, you know, great supporting players that would show up in a lot of other Joe Dante movies. Like, there's several people in this movie that I remember from Gremlins and Gremlins 2 that I'm like, "Oh, that's the guy from uh Gremlins 2."

[00:03:55]Um so, it's fun watching these movies that I've never seen before cuz I can start to kind of make those connections and it's like, "Oh, these people that work with Joe Dante in this movie, they worked with him in this one." He just kind of used all the same like uh people for his supporting roles in his movie, which is cool. Like, I I love seeing directors like use still give those people work, like continue to show loyalty to the people that helped build them up. I think that that's really cool.

[00:04:19]Um this is a movie that while I was watching it and again, it was a first time watch. I was like, "Why did I not see this when I was a kid? Why did I not grow up with this movie?" Because I would have absolutely loved this film.

[00:04:31]Not that I didn't love it now and think it was super fun. I had a hell of a time watching this movie, but I wish that I could go back, watch this movie when I was 10 years old and have grown up with it because this is really like right up my alley. Like, I I just would have loved this movie. Science fiction adventure.

[00:04:51]Um you know, it's it has a lot of shades of uh Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, you know, with the whole shrinking idea and everything. Part of me wonders like I I know that that movie was written um was it also directed by I know it was written by Stuart Gordon. Um I wonder if he got the idea from Innerspace. I wonder if this movie kind of inspired him in that.

[00:05:11]I don't really know. But, yeah, there's a lot of that influence in this film. Um you know, but it's just a really fun adventure movie. You've got Dennis Quaid who's like this hotshot pilot um who's kind of making an ass out of himself. So, they kind of put him in this experimental program where they're supposed to shrink him and put him inside of a of a bunny rabbit and they put him inside this little like, you know, submersible looking thing and they shrink him down and he they put him in a syringe and then some some bad people come in that want to take that over.

[00:05:42]It's never really clear like what exactly the villains of this movie are trying to do.

[00:05:46]Uh but, they're trying to get the syringe so they can get the technology to do what they want with it, whatever nefarious things they want to do with it. And um it accidentally gets injected into Martin Short. So, Dennis Quaid um and this is where it gets into kind of a kind of not really a possession story, but kind of in that same like vein, I feel like. There's a little bit of a possession aspect in this film. Dennis Quaid never fully like takes over Martin Short. Like, he's just in him and he can communicate with him and they can communicate back and forth.

[00:06:18]But, there are some moments where there's some really like gnarly effect scenes and he kind of transforms his face and stuff like that. So, he can kind of control him a little bit. Um but, it's just a fun movie where Dennis Quaid is inside Martin Short's body.

[00:06:31]They're trying to figure out how to get him out and getting bigger again and he's working with Meg Ryan to help him and then you got the bad guys coming after him. You got the original like, you know, science uh center that's trying to get him as well and they're battling it out. And it's just a fun movie with a lot of fun characters, a lot of fun situations. It's very comedic as well. They don't really take the premise too seriously throughout and I just really enjoyed this movie. I just thought it was super fun and I loved everybody in it. What But, again, I just I kick myself whenever I watch movies like this cuz I was like, "I would have freaking loved this movie when I was a kid. I I just would have." So, yeah, Innerspace 100%. Maybe a little bit too long. That's the only criticism I can give it. I don't think it needs to be 2 hours. This could have been a really fun like 90 to 100 minute story. I think they stretched things out a little bit too far. Maybe should have edited down just a little bit. I could think of some things you could have cut out of this movie for sure. Maybe done a director's cut or something like that. Otherwise, like I just I loved everything about it.

[00:07:36]Thought it was super fun and entertaining. So, getting into the actual 4K quality here, guys. You got a native 4K restoration. You got your Dolby Vision. You got your HDR10 and my goodness was this transfer just immaculate. I don't know what the Warner Brothers Blu-ray looks like. I don't know what the other Arrow Video Blu-ray looks like because they don't include that. Arrow Video just does a Blu-ray or they do the 4K. They don't pack in both.

[00:08:02]That is one kind of negative, I guess you could apply to Arrow Video. But, I do think that that helps them keep the cost down relative to some of the other labels. So, that is a good thing. Um it's on a 100 GB disc. This this 4K is and it just looks incredible. I mean, you got so many sequences of like, you know, Dennis Quaid like flying this little or like piloting this little like, you know, kind of spacecraft submersible looking thing inside of Martin Short's body. So, you see all the reds of the of his insides of the blood and the blood cells. All that stuff really reminded me of The Magic School Bus from back in the day. I remember when they shrunk and I guess they probably took influence from this movie now that I think of it um in The Magic School Bus cuz I used to watch that and they would shrink and they would go inside the body and like I just remember an episode of that when I was a kid. I don't think they did that every episode.

[00:08:53]Um but, there's just tons of like really cool like great um visuals in this movie, a lot of great special effects. I think um Industrial Light & Magic did the special effects work for this movie and they actually won an Oscar. Like, that was the only thing this movie was recognized for. I think the movie like it was kind of a bomb when it came out as well. Like, it did not do what Warner Brothers and Amblin Entertainment because Steven Spielberg, Kathleen Kennedy. Like, this movie just got a really like nice Amblin like old school Amblin 80s like just adventure vibe to it. Um so, it has those like Spielberg-isms in it as well, but it did not do well when it came out. Like, I just think they had a hard time promoting it and people just thought it was a weird concept and nobody went to go see it. It didn't get popular, I guess, until it came out on um on home video. So, yeah. Tons of great like special effects and practical effects and just like inside the body when he's piloting around. All that stuff looks so good. It just looks excellent. There's some excellent visuals in this movie and all that stuff looks fantastic upgraded to 4K with that Dolby Vision, that HDR. But just like some of the shots like inside the actual like spacecraft or again, whatever you want to call it, like submersible, whatever he's in.

[00:10:08]A futuristic vehicle.

[00:10:10]Um, but you like you see Dennis Quaid in there with all the lights and stuff shining on his face and he just it just looks great. Like just the skin tones, the way the lights look reflecting off of his face and just the background.

[00:10:20]Like you can just see everything. You can make everything out. It just looks magnificent. Like popping in this 4K, watching this movie in 4K, yes, it was the first time. I don't have the Blu-ray to compare it to, but I can tell you pretty definitively, um, and this is coming from somebody that watches a lot of 4Ks. I know what a good 4K should look like even if I've never seen the movie on Blu-ray or DVD or VHS. Um, this movie looks the best it's ever looked.

[00:10:47]Um, I can tell you that pretty definitively, not even seeing some of those past movie uh, formats because this is just a perfect 4K restoration from top to bottom. There is really no weak spots in this movie at all. I don't know, I mean this is a Steven Spielberg movie. So I'm sure they threw all the money at this.

[00:11:05]This was not a low-budget film, I I'm sure whatsoever. So like you're not going to get that like low-quality moments or anything. This was shot on 35 mm film and you got the best in the business special effects teams coming in here to do the special effects, makeup effects, all that kind of stuff and I just it just all looks great. Again, not a weak spot in this 4K from top to bottom. But even all the stuff in like the real world and like Martin Short, like all the stuff with him getting in that red car, like all that stuff looks excellent. Like the actual like San Francisco, um, like just cityscape and stuff. Everything just looks beautiful all throughout this movie.

[00:11:42]All throughout this movie. It really makes me want When Harry Met Sally. Like after I saw Meg Ryan in 4K, does she have another movie where that has a 4K?

[00:11:50]I honestly can't think of one off the top of my head, but after you see Meg Ryan in 4K, you're going to want that When Harry Met Sally uh, 4K for sure. So yeah, just a another slam dunk uh, for Arrow Video. Just a perfect 4K restoration. Absolutely fantastic. I you'll never get any better. You'll never get any better for this for this 80s classic for sure. Now getting into the sound, guys. You you audio junkies out there are going to love this. But they actually did several different sound restorations here. You got a newly restored original lossless 2.0 stereo sound mix. You also have the original 70 mm six-track mix in DTS-HD Master Audio 4.1. And then you've also got a newly remixed Dolby Atmos audio option as well, which like you wouldn't think that this movie would need a Dolby Atmos and I don't think you would have got it from any other label out there. But Arrow Video saw this movie and they knew this movie and they're like, "This movie would be incredible with Dolby Atmos."

[00:12:49]And they were absolutely correct. Like this film is so immersive with just what it does with the whole like, you know, getting inside the body and everything.

[00:12:58]All the sounds and everything that come with that, like it just sounds incredible. It's got great sound design and it sounded perfect with that Dolby Atmos sound mix.

[00:13:08]Like you felt like you were in the body like flying around with Dennis Quaid.

[00:13:13]Like you just felt completely immersed in the experience. So this 100% like a Dolby Atmos was warranted and was needed and I'm so happy that Arrow Video did it because a lot of people are going to be happy with that. But if you don't want that with this movie, if you just want the 2.0, you got that as well and that is also newly restored and you got that 4.1 as well. So tons of great audio options to check this movie out in even though I I primarily watched it with 7.1, I did watch it for a little bit with the 2.0. That sounded really good as well. So no issues with the sound.

[00:13:45]Everything's great and they provided a lot of good sound options out there for the audio junkies or enthusiasts. Now getting into the actual box set here, guys. Look at this.

[00:13:55]Just I I do believe this is the original poster art. At least this is the artwork that I think is on the Blu-ray, but it just looks great. Look at that. You got Martin Short right there. You got the two Oh, that's a really funny bit at the end when they get a little when they get kind of small, but not all the way small. It's that's pretty funny. Kind of reminded me a lot of the um, uh, what was it? Don't Be Afraid of the Dark? Is that what that movie's called?

[00:14:16]I I'm I'm blanking on what it's called, but the one with the with the little monsters. Kind of reminded me of that a little bit. You know, that that forced perspective stuff that they were doing around this time. It was it was it was pretty cool.

[00:14:26]Um, but yeah, really uh, great artwork right there. You got the spine with Innerspace on on there as well.

[00:14:33]And then on the back you got all the details, a synopsis, special features, casting list, specs and all that stuff at the bottom if you can read that. And then take it out of the slipcase, you got the same artwork on the actual box set. Turn it to the back, you got the little little ship right there, which is cool.

[00:14:50]Take it out of the box.

[00:14:54]And then right here you got the interior artwork on the case, which is reversible artwork, but this kind of shows him inside I don't know if he's inside um, Martin Short's throat or what's going on there.

[00:15:04]Like I said, he's he's in his body like the entire movie.

[00:15:08]And it it really is a weird like quirky concept for a film, but it just it totally completely works and you you take it seriously like the whole time, which is pretty impressive.

[00:15:20]And then you got some really cool disc art right there. Let's see what they got on the uh, the card right here.

[00:15:25]Oh, it's Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

[00:15:26]They're not really doing a lot of good teases these days, I feel like. They're just doing a lot of the old stuff. Oh, I didn't even see this, guys. This is cool.

[00:15:34]There's more artwork. I I did not see this. I'm glad I actually flipped it cuz I thought it was just going to be the same as the box set. You got a different poster right there. Very aweso- I love that image. That is really cool.

[00:15:46]That is actually really cool. And then you got a poster as well with uh, also a different, you know, poster, which is awesome.

[00:15:56]Arrow Video just provides the goods, guys. They just provide the goods like every time.

[00:16:01]And then you got a booklet in here that I think is about 60 pages. You got the fronts and you got the back. Now a lot of people saw this um, and thought to themselves, "Are they going to do a Lethal Weapon and Color Purple you know, big box set edition at some point?" And that's actually not I saw this somebody uh, posted about this on X. I forget who it was, but they responded basically and said that no, this is just a a fun like image that they saw on the promotional materials of the movie and they thought they would use it for the back back of the book just for fun.

[00:16:32]And it's got them all small right there.

[00:16:33]So yeah, but I guess these are supposed to be VHS tapes. So people saw this and they're like, "Oh, are we getting a chunky box of Lethal Weapon and Color Purple?" Um, but yeah, great packaging on this. Now let's get into the special features, guys.

[00:16:45]Because I'm telling you, like as much as I've already gushed about this release, like I really love the fact that not only is there a brand new audio commentary here with uh, film critic Drew Drew McWeeny. You've also got the archival audio commentary with the director Joe Dante, producer Michael Finnell, visual effects supervisor Dennis Muren and actors Kevin McCarthy and Robert Robert Picardo. Um, you have got a brand new for this release making-of documentary. You have got it's called Shrinkage: The Making of Innerspace, a brand new hour-long documentary featuring newly filmed interviews and with director Joe Dante, producer Michael Finnell, uh, visual effects supervisor Dennis Muren, visual effects artist Har- Harley Jessup and Bill George and actor Robert Picardo. So you got six people in this little documentary talking about Innerspace.

[00:17:35]It's an hour-long. I love that. We have not got that from Arrow Video since I think Dark City last year, which had like a 70-minute making-of. And you guys know me, like I I love special features.

[00:17:46]I love value, adding value to these releases, but I would much rather like them do a documentary than do like seven or eight separate features, which is what Arrow Video usually does. And I'm not complaining about that. That's that's great as well.

[00:18:00]But I love just clicking the play button and just getting to watch it all in one and not having to worry about it ending and then, you know, clicking on the next one and the next one. And plus, I like the variety that a documentary can provide. I like the kind of rotating like talking heads um, thing. I think that that's more interesting than just listening to one person talk about it for, you know, 15, 20 minutes. You know, that person like if they're really interesting, then it's then it's great.

[00:18:24]But like I I love the rotating like talking heads and the like just the document- just like an actual craft applied to it. I I feel like you get that more with the documentaries than you do with the uh, just straight-up interviews. So but this was great, guys.

[00:18:38]A lot of great insight on the making of this film, everything that led up to it, everything that happened during it and it's just it's it's absolutely fantastic and I would love for Arrow Video um, to do more of this stuff. The only criticism I will give, and this is not a this is not anything about the contents in the actual documentary itself, Joe Dante's volume, for some reason he or maybe he was just talking really low, but whenever it got to Joe Dante talking about the movie, which I want to hear Joe Dante above anybody talking about the movie, I could barely hear him. And I had to turn the volume up so high to be able to hear Joe Dante. Everybody else I heard fine. So I don't know if it was just his voice or like the microphone wasn't positioned correctly, but that was something that I definitely noticed while watching the documentary.

[00:19:21]And then beyond that, you got a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff that's never been seen before um, that Joe Dante provided. So you got behind-the-scenes with Joe Dante, previously unseen video footage shot during the production of Innerspace. So that's never been on anything before that they included here.

[00:19:36]You got behind-the-scenes at ILM, previously unseen footage shot by the visual effects supervisor Dennis Muren during production. And you got original storyboards, continuity, behind-the-scenes Polaroids. So yeah, you got a whole like feature where they're just showing Polar- Polaroid pictures, like photographs of everybody on set during the production. What a fantastic release. What an absolutely fantastic release for an '80s movie that is now a new favorite of mine. Like, I really enjoyed this movie and had a hell of a time watching it. I just love watching like Martin Short and also Dennis Quaid's a favorite of mine and Meg Ryan's great as well. Seeing all of them together in a movie was just really freaking cool to me. So, yeah, Innerspace, I'm glad I finally got to check it out. What a great way to check it out for the first time on 4K. Such a spectacular edition and one that I can definitely highly recommend, guys.

[00:20:27]Highly recommend this release from Arrow Video. So, yeah, let me know in the comment section below what do you think about the movie? Are you going to be picking this up? Don't forget to like, subscribe, hype the video, turn on bell notifications for all future videos, and follow me on all my social media accounts. Those links are down below in the description. And we will see you next time.

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