Tiny Men in my Backyard

Tiny Men in my Backyard is a 1988 American animated action fantasy film directed and written by Gary Trousdale. The film was produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation in association with Fred Wolf Films and released by Buena Vista Pictures Distribution for Walt Disney Pictures, and features the voices of Victoria Dillard, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Thomas Mikal Ford, Josef Sommer, Jim Cummings, Neil Patrick Harris, Amy Irving, Michael DeLuise, and Ellen Barkin.

Tiny Men in my Backyard originally premiered at the El Capitan Theatre on September 2, 1988. It tells the story of a young teenage girl who suddenly shrinks in her sleep and finds a whole new world in her backyard full of little people and must save them after they declare war on a rival backyard. The film was later released on September 23, 1988 to positive reviews and later becoming a box office success grossing $171.1 million worldwide on a $35 million budget in it's initial theatrical run and has made $322 million worldwide including re-releases while later becoming a cult classic years to even more bigger success from various syndicated and cable airings of the film while also spawning a franchise including a television series lasting from 1989 to 1994. This film is often regarded as one of Disney's best animated films.

A sequel titled Return of the Tiny Men will be released on April 21, 2023, nearly 35 years after the original.

Plot
Lilly James, a 15 year old girl who is fascinated with nothing but drawing and writing stories. She'll always tell her teacher Mr. Austin about her findings while also studying insects as well as miniature life despite her parents telling her it isn't real. Despite this, she still goes with her interests and ends up finding life where a crowd of tiny people surrounds her, one of them being the leader named Lord Rex with his evil minions that Lilly steps on and continues on her day where she tells her parents about this which they don't believe and ends up going to bed.

One day, while Lilly is sleeping a warrior named Kane shrinks her down to size and explains to her that she needs to help the kingdom from the Lord Rex who wants to destroy and murder all of the citizens. As Kane ends up putting her through a training program, she also rescues RJ, Lord Rex's son and warns him about another invasion which is suggested to the deadliest one. Back at Lilly's home, her parents discovers that she's missing only for a note to be left that she went to a friend's house for some days and ended up going on about their day.

Meanwhile, a spy of the Lord ends up getting a sample of Lilly's DNA to go with his evil plans. As Lilly and RJ are out getting closer and going on dates, Lord Rex sends out his main minions Frode, Abhi, and Gorath to Lilly's house after going after clues to find out where she lives and whispers out a plan to them. Kane who is suspicious about the lord, ends up being kidnapped and ambushed but defeats th and warns Lilly which makes her paranoid but later brushes off it off as she falls asleep.

The next day, Lilly who is normal size discovers that her parents are missing and ends up hearing tiny screaming noises coming from the yard only to find out that Rex has kidnapped and his minions gave her an antidote to go back to normal size. Being angered she decides to cry until she discovers a drink that ends up shrinking her to size and flies to the kingdom. As Rex grows as big as a cockroach, he ends up invading the kingdom and ends up breaking the dam, while dropping Lilly's parents in it to drown. Seeing how Kane is successfully fighting off his minions and protecting the city, Rex pushes down a building which collapses on Kane killing him instantly and ends up grabbing Lilly.

Lilly ends up reuniting with her parents and saves them from drowning before Rex towers upon them. Realizing all the skills and weapons that were taught and given to her, Lilly ends up shooting her final arrow in Rex's chest instantly killing him while shrinking him back to his normal size as well as Lilly sending Rex's minions to Hell for eternity. With Rex defeated, the grass land kingdom is filled with nothing but peace as RJ is sworn in as the new King while Lilly and her family are saying their goodbyes and grow back into their normal size. Lilly then tells this whole adventure to her class explaining that miniature life does indeed exist which results in her teacher Mr. Austin, giving her an A and a round of applause from her class. The film ends with RJ and Lilly sharing a kiss.

Cast

 * Victoria Dillard as Lilly James, a 15 year old girl who likes to draw and write.
 * Jean-Claude Van Damme as Lord Rex, the evil lord of the grass land.
 * Thomas Mikal Ford as Kane, a warrior who is the leader of the resistance force against Lord Rex.
 * Josef Sommer as Abhi, the fearless minion of Lord Rex.
 * Jim Cummings as Milgen James, Lilly's 38 year old father who has no interest in her daughter's beliefs.
 * Neil Patrick Harris as RJ, the son of Lord Rex who despises his dad due to his evilness.
 * Amy Irving as Christina James, Lilly's 36 year old mother who is reckless and resents drawing.
 * Michael DeLuise as Gorath, the dimwitted minion of Lord Rex.
 * Ellen Barkin as Frode, the cocky minion of Lord Rex.
 * Bob Newhart as Mr. Austin, Lilly's grumpy yet nice teacher.
 * Lucile Bliss as Mrs. Keplar, an old cranky lady in Tinyland who mistakenly thought Lilly was an intruder.
 * Gary Trousdale as Craven, RJ's smart mouthed assistant.

Story development
Tiny Men in my Backyard was supposed to be released by Walt Disney Productions in the 1960's but was cancelled due to production troubles.

In 1984, Gary Trousdale, became interested in the film, after reading an early script on it from the 60's, while doing the effects for the 1985 Disney film The Black Cauldron. Believing the story provided an "ideal basis" for an animated feature film and keen on creating a film that took place underwater, Trousdale wrote and presented a two-page treatment of Tiny Men in my Backyard to Walt Disney Studios chief Jeffrey Katzenberg at a "gong show" idea suggestion meeting. Katzenberg passed the project over, because at that time the studio was in development on a sequel to their live-action mermaid comedy Splash (1984) and felt Tiny Men in my Backyard would be too similar a project. The next day, however, Katzenberg approved of the idea for possible development, along with Oliver & Company. While in production in the 1980s, the staff found, by chance, original story and visual development work done by Kay Nielsen for Disney's newest original feature film.

Release
The film was originally released on September 2, 1988 by Buena Vista Pictures Distribution and later had a re-release on November 15, 1996. Originally, the film was scheduled to have a 3D re-release in July 2013, but this was cancelled on January 14, 2013, due to the under-performances of other Disney 3D re-releases until further notice. However, it was confirmed that the film would be re-released in 3D and IMAX 3D on October 28, 2022 in the United States and China as well as other countries with deleted scenes being added as well as it being remastered in 4K.

Home media
Tiny Men in my Backyard was released as part of the Walt Disney Classics line of VHS, LaserDisc, Betamax and Video 8 home media releases on March 7, 1989, six months after the release of the film. Before Tiny Men, only a select number of Disney's catalog animated films had been released to home media, as the company was afraid of upsetting its profitable practice of theatrically reissuing each film every few years. The Little Mermaid became that year's top-selling title on home video, with over 12 million units sold (including 8 million in its first month) and 14 million units by October 1993. The home video release, along with box office and merchandise sales, contributed to The Little Mermaid generating a total revenue of $1.2 billion.

Following Tiny Men in my Backyard 's November 15, 1996 re-release in theaters, a new VHS version was released on April 1, 1997, as part of the Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection and included a unaired episode of the Tiny Men series.

Tiny Men was released in a "bare-bones" Walt Disney Limited Issue DVD on December 7, 1999, with a standard video transfer. The film was re-released on DVD on October 4, 2005, as part of the Walt Disney Platinum Editions of features, alongside never before seen unfinished deleted scenes as bonus features. Additional deleted scenes and several in-depth documentaries were included, as well as an exclusive preview for Kids the Third as well as the Academy award winning short One Band One Sound. The DVD sold 1.8 million units on its first day of release, and over 4.5 million units during its first week, making it the biggest animated DVD debut for October. By the year's end, the DVD had sold about 9 million units and was one of the year's top 10 selling DVDs. The film was re-released on a 3-disc Blu-ray/DVD/Digital Copy combo, a 2-disc Blu-ray/DVD combo on October 2, 2012 as part of the Walt Disney Diamond Edition line. The Little Mermaid was re-released on HD and 4K digital download on February 13, 2018, with a physical media re-release on Blu-ray and Ultra HD Blu-ray on February 27, 2018, as part of the Walt Disney Signature Collection of the film's 30th anniversary.

Box office
As of November 13, 2022, Tiny Men in my Backyard has grossed $145 million in the United States and Canada and $176.9 million in other territories for a worldwide gross of $322 million worldwide.

Before the film's release, Jeffrey Katzenberg was wary of the film being a success due to it being darker than most of the other Disney films released at the time while also the plot being iffy in his words. However, the film became a box office success grossing $70.8 million in the United States and Canada and $100.3 million in other territories for a worldwide gross of $171.1 million worldwide in it's initial box office run along with $39.2 million and $42.9 million domestically and internationally respectively from it's 1996 re-release.

In it's 3D release, the film made $11.9 million in its opening weekend, more than the Avatar 3D re-release's $10 million opening weekend. It dropped -51.5% in its second weekend and made $5.7 million.

Critical reception
Review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes reported that the film has a 91% approval score based on 71 reviews and an average rating of 8.2/10. The site's consensus reads "Tiny Men in my Backyard jump started a new era for Disney and it's animation with it's lively action sequences along with humorous moments as well as crispy animation for it's time." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 88 out of 100 based on 24 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A-" on an A+ to F scale.

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times was enthusiastic about the film, writing, "Tiny Men in my Backyard is a kids dark epic fantasy/action film with humorous moments—a movie that's so creative and so original with it's unique twist of miniature people as well as the amount of fun the film is, it deserves to be in the Hall of Fame for one of the greatest Disney movies." Ebert also commented positively on the character of Lilly, stating she "is an independent and strong female character who isn't afraid of action as well as being imaginative with a sense of humor as well." Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune wrote, "Even though the story might be too complex for the littlest kids to understand, it is indeed an eye popper that deserves all the praise it gets with beautiful, smoove, and futuristic animation as well as it's perfect moments of action will have you hooked. Lord Rex is a good villain and is very egoistic."

Variety magazine praised the film for its cast of characters, Lilly in particular, as well as its animation, stating that the animation "proves that even underground it is light as well as showing the vivid coloring of these characters too." They also praised the fight scenes throughout the film as well as humor stating that "this balance between action and humor is perfect as it doesn't distract it from the serious tone of the film.."

The staff of TV Guide wrote a positive review, praising the film's return to the traditional Disney dark flicks as well as the film's animation. Yet they also wrote that the film is detracted from by the adult humor and the human characters' eyes. While still giving a positive review, they stated that the film "can't compare to the real Disney classics (which appealed equally to both kids and adults)." Todd Gilchrist of IGN wrote a positive review of the film, stating that the film is "an almost perfect achievement." Gilchrist also praised how the film revived interest in animation as it was released at a time when interest in animation was at a lull. Empire gave a positive review of the film, stating that "[Tiny Men in my Backyard is] a charmer of a movie, boasting all the ingredients that make a Disney experience something to treasure yet free of all the politically correct, formulaic elements that have bogged down the more recent productions."

In August 2008 – 20 years after the film's initial release in 1988 – Yahoo! users voted Tiny Men in my Backyard as No. 3 on the top 30 animated films of all time. In June, that same year, the film remained on the list but dropped six slots to end at #9. (Only four other traditionally animated Disney animated films - Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, and The Lion King, respectively - scored above it in the poll even after the update.) In 2010, Richard Corliss of Time magazine named it one of "The 25 All-TIME Best Animated Films".

Sequel
A sequel was scheduled to be released during the 1990s but these plans didn't go through due to the shift to it being a television franchise as well as Trousdale focus being on other Disney films of the era. After a troublesome development at Walt Disney Studios, a sequel was finally greenlit. The majority of the voice cast will return aside from Victoria Dillard, Josef Sommer, and Michael DeLuise all due to their retirements from acting with the film being in stylized CGI animation rather than traditional animation with a mixture of 2D animation as well.

The legacy sequel titled Return of the Tiny Men will be released on April 21, 2023 by Walt Disney Pictures in IMAX and 3D.

Theme parks
Coming soon!

Television
A television series was released and titled Tiny Men: The Series premiered on September 15, 1989 on ABC television network and ended on November 19, 1994. It lasted 68 episodes.

Additionally, a spin-off prequel series focusing on the warrior Kane premiered in 1998 and ended in 2001 after three seasons and aired in local syndication. This series lasted 35 episodes.

Videogames

 * A game based on the film of the same name was released on August 6, 1988 licensed by Konami for the Nintendo Entertainment System.
 * In 1999, a 3D fighter game titled Tiny Men Strikers was released for the Nintendo 64 and Playstation as well as PC. Taking place a year after the movie, Lilly and RJ train to fight evil ruler Reyson Void who invades Tinyville.
 * In 2008, another game was released produced by Disney Interactive Studios, titled Tiny Men: Lilly James and was released to positive reviews. It was also the first game in the franchise to receive a T for Teen rating by the ESRB for "violence". The was later re-released and remastered on PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Stream in 2019 with a Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X 4K UHD master being released on December 8, 2022.
 * Additionally, Lilly and RJ have been repeatedly featured in the Kingdom Hearts series as mainly minor characters.

Cameo

 * Lilly James was briefly featured in 20th Century Animation's Cool Spot: Spot Goes to Hollywood (2021).