SATIRE | FICTION | PROMPT

‘Honey, I Turned Myself Into a Ladybug’: The Masterpiece Sequel That Never Needed to Be

Adam Sandler’s spellbinding swan (ladybug?) song

Image created in Dream app and SLIGHTLY edited by author

Quietly released in 2023, the straight-to-Vudu reboot of the 1989 classic, Honey, I Shrunk The Kids, is a movie some will claim never needed to exist. But more conscientious viewers, like myself, will argue that the movie is not only the thrill we all need this holiday season… but single-handedly one of the greatest cinematic adventures to ever hurtle past big screens and onto C-rate streaming services.

Written, produced, directed, and scored all by the quintessential mind of Adam Sandler, the film’s divine beauty and elegance are something plainly apparent from the very moment that the opening credits roll.

Sandler, the epochal thinker behind movies such as Jack & Jill, Grown Ups 2, and You Don’t Mess With the Zohan, delivers a performance here that can be aptly considered a career-best. Soaring above even Waterboy and I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry heights, the performer — the comedic and dramatic artist of a generation — expresses such a viscerally dynamic range of emotion that it’s often gutting for the viewer to even behold. We sympathize with Sandler’s struggle as he endures all the…