“Big” was one of the first movies I ever saw starring Tom Hanks, who, I must say, is a comic genius.
Josh Baskin is a thirteen-year-old boy who has a crush on an older girl. When he tries to get her attention, she’s not impressed. Placing a token into a fortune-telling machine, Josh makes a wish. “I want to be big,” he says. When he wakes up the next morning, his wish has come true.
When his mother sees him (now played by Tom Hanks) she chases him out of the house, and he turns to his best friend Billy for help. After convincing Billy it’s really him, they manage to get him an apartment, and also a job, working at a toy company. What 13-year-old wouldn’t love that?
With his innocent view on the world, he brings a breath of fresh air into the company. Soon he’s given the job of testing toys – he gets to play with toys all day and be paid for it! Because he’s still a 13-year-old on the inside, he’s able to share what he thinks about the toys from a consumer’s point of view, and his position inside the company becomes more rock-solid all the time.
He catches the eye of Susan Laurence (Elizabeth Perkins) who also works in the company, and they have a romance. But it’s not long before he realizes he has to make a choice – is he going to stay big forever and continue to let his mother think he’s been kidnapped, or is he going to return to the life he had before? He eventually chooses to become a kid again, leaving Susan behind.
I liked the humorous parts of this movie. Tom Hanks is a fabulous actor and he responds to things around him like you’d imagine a 13-year-old would. His first taste of caviar is hysterical, as is his reaction to getting to play with toys all day.
However, I was troubled by some aspects of the film. Childhood is a time for innocence, and when he entered into the sexual relationship with Susan, he was experiencing things that emotionally, a young teen isn’t ready for. As he reenters his younger years, he will be carrying the memory of that sexual experience with him. I didn’t like how his innocence was shattered before he was really ready for it.
Again, this is one of those films that you’ll want to watch for yourself and see what you think. The comedy is top-notch, that’s for sure.
This movie is rated PG.
Related Blogs: