In the Trailer for Downsizing, Humanity Solves Overpopulation By Going Full-On Honey, I Shrunk the Kids

In the new trailer for Downsizing, scientists have proposed a novel solution to the issue of overpopulation: shrinking a certain percentage of people down to Polly Pocket size. Matt Damon and Kristen Wiig play a husband and wife who decide to undergo the procedure after their neighbor, played by Jason Sudeikis, tells them, “Downsizing is about saving yourself. We live like kings. We’ve got the best houses, best restaurants.”

Honestly, this trailer gets a lot less Stepford Wives-y than I was expecting, especially since it’s written and directed by Alexander Payne, the man behind films like Sideways, The Descendants, and Nebraska. While the synopsis does say that their choice “triggers life-changing adventures,” a lot of the trailer seems devoted to a sense of wonder and strangeness. The characters explore fjords on a tiny boat; they pour pitchers of vodka from a tipped bottle of Absolut; Christoph Waltz’s character assures them, “The small world is filled with things to see.”

There are a few foreshadowing scenes with contracts and warnings that the change is “permanent and irreversible,” but nothing creepy seems to come of it. Collider‘s Brian Formo even described the movie as “a live-action, adult Pixar movie.” I’m sure we’ll learn more about the plot’s central conflict as the release date approaches, but that sounds intriguingly, refreshingly optimistic for a “planned community” science fiction film.

What did you all think, though?

(Via Collider; image via screengrab)

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