Looking back on the history of film, few scholars are likely to cite the 1980s as a particularly great period. The previous decade was a time in which big movies could still voice radical opinions about political and social ideas; comparatively, the 1980s is a decade in which both blockbusters and franchises first got a major foothold in Hollywood, and the marketing of films shifted from adults to kids. However, to write the '80s off is underselling the way the left-over energy of the '70s still allowed oddballs and outsiders to get risky and imaginative movies made within the studio system as mainstream entertainment. Although many had troubles with ratings boards and executives, movies like Brazil, They Live, RoboCop, and Repo Man snuck through the cracks, long before concerns about demographics and test audiences would deem such material too weird to gamble on at all.

One of the filmmakers who thrived during those years (with a little help from mega-producer Steven Spielberg) was Joe Dante. Dante, who got his start doing Roger Corman pictures, had his big studio break with Gremlins, but his follow-up, the outer-space adventure Explorers, was a box office flop. In 2015, that might've been the end of his career, but in 1985, he was able to return to Warner Bros. and team up with Spielberg again for InnerSpace, which has a premise so strange it's hard to believe a major studio made it, even with predecessors like Fantastic Voyage to point to. The story follows Jack Putter (Martin Short), a hypochondriac who finds plenty to worry about even in his mundane job as an assistant manager at a Safeway. He's at the mall when a doctor appears out of nowhere and jabs a hypodermic needle into Jack's butt and promptly dies. What Jack doesn't know is that the doctor was part of a top-secret project in which a willing subject -- in this case, washed-up Lieutenant Tuck Pendleton (Dennis Quaid) -- is sealed in a submersible and miniaturized, in order to study a lab rabbit from the inside. Instead, he's been placed inside Jack, to prevent a pair of corporate thieves (Kevin McCarthy, Fiona Lewis) from getting their hands on the miniaturization chip.

Modern audiences (to be fair, myself included) have a tendency to pick holes in things that seem goofy or ridiculous -- it's why movies like Earthquake have evolved into San Andreas. Dante, however, embraces the silly: InnerSpace is essentially a live-action cartoon, one made with the hope that the audience will suspend its disbelief before the movie even starts. The real point of the film isn't the plot, but the unique comic chemistry that forms between Jack and Tuck, a perfect odd-couple pairing that works because screenwriters Jeffrey Boam and Chip Proser wisely focus on the two men becoming teammates rather than enemies. Tuck knwos his freedom depends on Jack breaking out of his comfort zone, and so he becomes a new voice inside Jack's head, one that tells him to take risks instead of run away. Later, they introduce a unique, surprisingly sweet love triangle when Tuck has Jack enlist the help of his ex-girlfriend Lydia (Meg Ryan) to try and track down the bad guys. Tuck has Jack dress like him, act like him, and think like him, and as a result, Jack becomes just as attracted to Lydia as him. Of course, even this feels indebted to the relative risk-taking of the '80s, in that neither Quaid or Short were box office titans.

While most of InnerSpace's pleasures lie in the cast's performances, the film is also filled with stunning visual effects (which won an Academy Award) that place Tuck's pod inside the vast and alien universe of Jack's body. Tuck's tiny craft pops into blood vessels for a quick ride through the bloodstream next to giant red blood cells, nearly gets sucked into Jack's rapidly beating heart, visits a gigantic eyeball to help establish visual contact, and even drops into the gastrointestinal system, where stomach bile rages. Even ignoring the old debate about practical effects vs. CGI, these sequences hold up today not just because of the craft that went into them, but because Dante has fun "integrating" Tuck's journey with Jack's experience, both through the aforementioned teamworks, but also with well-executed gags (Tuck being blinded by an Otoscope, simultaneous fires, Jack giving Tuck a drink). Another miniaturized pod, piloted by the silent and partially mechanical Mr. Igoe (Vernon Wells), provides more opportunities for fun, and an even funnier sequence involves almost no effects at all, rather the performance of Robert Picardo as a black-market technology dealer known as The Cowboy. A climactic action beat involving Victor Scrimshaw (McCarthy) and Margaret Canker (Lewis) is not as convincing as some of the other effects, but is in keeping with the movie's comic spirit.

At times, InnerSpace can feel like a slightly small movie (no pun intended): Jack's ability or inability to escape the bad guys can feel a bit arbitrary, and despite Tuck's life hanging in the balance, the stakes can feel a bit low. However, the movie's comedic energy and inventive spirit are as potent now as they were when the film was made. Dante has a firm grasp on tone, easily maneuvering the film from science fiction to action to romance (with an assist from Sam Cooke's wonderful "Cupid") to comedy, and the chemistry of the cast is undeniable, even though one of them isn't in the same room most of the time. Like Explorers, the film was another financial flop for Dante, but thanks to that relative freedom of the 1980s, he would go on to make two more cult films, both at studios, before the decade was over (the TV spoof Amazon Women on the Moon and the Tom Hanks horror-comedy The 'Burbs). The decade may not have been as important as the 1970s, but any period that allowed filmmakers like Terry Gilliam, Paul Verhoeven, John Carpenter, Alex Cox, and Joe Dante to play on bigger canvases deserves to be remembered.

The Blu-ray
Warner offers Innerspace on Blu-ray with a modification of the DVD cover art it's had for years. None of the posters for Innerspace are particularly great (at least one is atrocious), but the poster re-used here is the best of the lot, even though the cluttered image works better with the original tagline "There's a hero inside Jack Putter just waiting to get out." The one-disc release comes in an eco-friendly Viva Elite Blu-ray case, and there is no insert.

The Video and Audio
For many years, an HD version of Innerspace has been available via digital retailers for years, and aside from some minor print damage, it's a perfectly serviceable master, with a visible grain structure and noticeable detail and clarity upgrades over the DVD. Innerspace was not a hit in 1987, and I don't think anyone would've been shocked if Warner Bros. had just dropped that master straight onto a disc. Instead, this Blu-ray edition features a brand new 1.78:1 1080p AVC-encoded presentation that brings the clarity and crispness of the picture up another level. Color saturation increases noticeably, fine detail jumps another few notches, and depth visibly improves.

However, there are a couple of caveats to this otherwise improved image. First of all, while Warner has avoided their troubling tendency to push the colors teal and orange, the image is noticeably darker than previous versions, which is another tendency that reads like a modern technique to increase the illusion of depth and richness by enhancing shadow and texture. As I never saw InnerSpace on 35mm, I have no point of reference for how dark the image should be, so I could be wrong, but a scene in Jack's apartment in the middle of the day looks a touch too shadowy, and sequences inside Tuck's cockpit are also fairly dark. There are also a couple of shots or scenes that appear to have been scanned incorrectly, appearing blocky, free of fine detail, and somewhat smeared (screencaps here and here). These are the only two instances I noticed during the film, so it's not a persistent enough problem to really hurt the transfer's score, but it is noticeable enough to merit a mention.

Some bonus screencaps can be seen here, here, here, and here.

A DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix is provided for the Blu-ray, a lossless upgrade of the DVD's digitally remastered and remixed soundtrack. The film sounds very nice in HD, especially the scenes inside the body, which are immersive and enveloping, and are the scenes where the lossless upgrade serves the mix best. Lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 mixes in French and Spanish (both Castillian and Latin), English captions for the deaf and hard of hearing, and French and Spanish subtitles are all provided.

Note: Some other critics have reported a crackling issue with the soundtrack on certain players (namely,Sony's PS3 and PS4, and the ). I was made aware of this issue after I'd already watched the film, and went back to listen to it on my Panasonic, and did not hear any problems with the sound.

The Extras
The disc's one extra is ported from the DVD release, a fun audio commentary by director Joe Dante, producer Michael Finnell, actors Kevin McCarthy and Robert Picardo, and visual effects supervisor Dennis Muren. Sadly, they mention that Martin Short was slated to join them but couldn't make it, but this is otherwise an entertaining commentary. Dante and Finnell lead the discussion, with McCarthy only chiming in from time to time, Picardo arriving when his character appears in the film, and Muren talking about the special effects sequences. Dante has always been a funny and informative commentator and this track is no different, and those who have yet to listen to it will no doubt find it very enjoyable.

Although in some ways, the fact that Warner released a disc of InnerSpace is amazing in and of itself, it is a shame that no new extras were created. In particular, although Muren is on the commentary, it feels like a featurette on the film's Academy Award-winning effects would make the package feel a bit more complete.

An original theatrical trailer is also included.

Conclusion
The 1980s were a wildly imaginative time for movies, a modern renaissance for sci-fi and horror in which weird and goofy films were allowed to thrive. It was a perfect environment for a filmmaker like Joe Dante, whose movies really had a spotlight thanks to the backing of Steven Spielberg as a producer. InnerSpace is one of Dante's most entertaining films, a silly but sweet concoction featuring a top-notch (and wildly unusual) cast and dazzling special effects. The Blu-ray has some quirks, and it doesn't offer any new extras, but at such a low price point, there's no excuse not to give it a whirl. Highly recommended.