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BigRating:
Release Date: 04 February, 2003 Retail Price: $14.98 OUR Price: $9.99 You SAVE: $4.99! Cast: Complete Cast (10 total) |
Big Reviews
"What's a marketing report?"
Josh Baskin is a 13 year old boy (David Moscow), suffering from the inequities of being too young and small to have any control in his life. The girl he crushes on is dating a bigger, older boy and he can't even get on a carnival ride because he doesn't reach the minimum required height. He chances upon Zoltar, a spooky fortune telling machine, and impulsively wishes he were big. The wish is granted and Josh wakes up the next morning transformed into a 30 year old man (Tom Hanks).
But, to bastardize Stan Lee's famous line, with a "big" body comes big responsibility. Josh manages to luck into a highly ranked position at a toy company and even cluelessly ends up with a hot girlfriend (the very grown up Elizabeth Perkins). With only his 13 year-old best friend Billy as a confidant, Josh must navigate thru the minefield of burdens and hangups (eking out a livelihood, the pressure and jealousies in the work area, adult relationships, etc) normally associated with growing up. Josh, thru the course of the film, comes to realize he isn't ready to be a grown-up and that being a kid is actually a pretty cool thing to be. Now, if he could only find that dang fortune telling machine.
Tom Hanks delightfully channels his inner kid in this modern fairy tale. I really can't think of anyone else who could've been as convincing and charming as Hanks in portraying a grown-up with the mind of an adolescent. Elizabeth Perkins, as the very poised but baffled Susan Lawrence, effectively plays her role as initially calculating but, by the film's closing scenes, she'll end up tugging at your heartstrings. Robert Loggia, as Mr. MacMillan, the elderly but young-at-heart owner and head honcho of the MacMillan Toys Company, is disarming and infectious (in the good sense, not in the sense that he'll give you a disease). Everyone touts the "Chopsticks" scene with Loggia and Hanks as a classic standout of the film.
Big ties with A League of Their Own as Penny Marshall's best directing effort. There's a reason Big made Marshall the first female director to surpass $100 million in the box office. She not only elicits very nice performances from her cast but she also injects into her film wholesome humor and warmth, a tastefully done romantic arc, and an insightful perspective about what it's like to be mired in adulthood and how, sometimes, we grownups are all either just going thru the motions or taking life too seriously.
The only thing I found disquieting is the kidnapping subplot, which introduces a jarring element and clashes with the overall gentle tone of the film. The script handles it as discreetly and as "kid-gloves" as possible, but one can't help but empathize with the mostly off-screen grieving mother. And that's my only quibble.
If you enjoy this film, I recommend 13 Going on 30 (Jennifer Garner is almost as good as Hanks), if you haven't seen it yet. And if you like Elizabeth Perkins, check out the romantic comedy He Said, She Said, where Ms. Perkins has never been better.
summer homework
Big is about a kid (Josh) that goes to a carnival and through a game he becomes an adult but only his body he still has the mind of a twelve year old. He and his friend (Billy) go to New York to find out what happened to him so that they can undo it. In the end Josh is a regular twelve year old again.
This movie was good because it showed how people struggle to change from being kids to being adults. When growing up people think that they are grown up but when in adult situations they are more likely to make the wrong choices.
One thing that I found very interesting is that Josh was the one that became like a thirty year old but it was Billy who knew what to do. Billy helped Josh make it through his change from kid to adult and Billy helped Josh learn that he wasn't ready to be an adult so he should enjoy his childhood.
I definitely recommend this movie to everyone. It's a nice little movie with a good story. The kind of movie that everyone in the family will enjoy. This movie has comedy, romance, a struggle, and a lesson that everyone should learn.
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