Ah, the innocent Sunday afternoons of my childhood and joys of black & white TV (no remote control back than, one actually had to stand up and push the button to change the channels). I must have been quite young and impressionable since this movie had stayed with me ever since, along with "Tarantula" and "Creature From Black Lagoon" - thrilling without gore, fascinating in a weird way, this is a wet dream for any nine year old.
The story is a classic today - a man accidentally passes trough radio-active cloud (or is it the other way around?) and as a result starts to shrink. At first just discreetly, than becomes newspaper sensation, goes to children's size and continues getting smaller and even smaller. At this point the story goes truly fascinating because he is suddenly in all sorts of danger. If as a kid I was probably gaping watching normally sedate kitten harassing Grant Williams, now as a grown up man I truly squirmed watching his fight with darn spider. Sure, the movie is an old classic and time had long eclipsed those special effects, but this is what it gives this special warmth and charm. One does not approach movie like "The Incredible Shrinking Man" in search for depth or a life philosophy (although there IS quite philosophical finale, which completely went over my head as a kid since I must have been too excited about the cat and spider), this is a pure, good-natured classic entertainment and I guarantee that once the story gets going, any kid would be glued to the screen. And if you still treasure the kid inside, chances are you might enjoy it again.
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