Big

I watched this when I was the same age as the main character of this movie and I found it just...okay. I remembered the Zoltar machine, the big piano, and all the toys Josh plays with but not much more.

Rewatching it as an adult makes me appreciate it on a whole new level. I did not care for the emotional nuances of the movie and the dilemma that Josh was in because I myself was a kid the first time I watched it. I couldn't understand the depth of the movie's themes in the same way that Josh fails to have a truly deep, mature, emotional connection with another adult. Watching this movie as an adult also gives me this blissful sense of nostalgia for the little blip of time I spent as a child. Childhood is such a small part of your life compared to the time you spend as an adult, yet it makes a tremendous impact on you and what happens to you in those brief years leaves a lasting impression. Those are the thoughts and feelings this movie elicited in me and that's why it's highly recommended from me.

Tom Hanks earned his first Oscar nomination in the late 1980s with the Penny Marshall comedy/fantasy "Big." I saw it for the first time when I was about 9, and have loved it ever since. I like how it is aimed at both the kid and adult in all of us!

Young Josh Baskin (David Moscow) goes with his family to a carnival one evening, and sees the girl of his dreams. When he finally works up the nerve to talk to her, her date appears with her. Then, he does not meet the height requirement for the roller coaster ride he wants to go on. So, off he goes to a deserted part of the carnival to the "Zoltar" machine, a devil's head encased in glass, to "make his wish." He wishes he "were big." Suffice it to say, Josh wakes up the next morning to discover he is an adult (Tom Hanks). Mom (Mercedes Ruehl) thinks he kidnapped her son, and calls the police. Josh eventually convinces best friend Billy (Jared Rushton) that he (Josh) is his true 13-year-old self trapped in a man's body. They take off to New York, where Josh manages to get a job as a product tester for a large toy company. He befriends the boss (Robert Loggia), who likes Josh's understanding of the toys kids really like. However, Josh finds himself at odds with Paul (John Heard), vice president of marketing, who perceives Josh's simplistic views as an invasion of Paul's more experienced, competitive ways. Never fear, as successful co-worker Susan Lawerence (Elizabeth Perkins) finds comfort in Josh's views and company, and falls in love with him. But the more Josh experiences the privileges and responsibilities of adulthood, the more he longs for his youth again. Should he stay with Susan or find the Zoltar machine and wish to be a kid again?

An impressive film about growing up and making wishes. When you're a kid, you can't wait to grow up. But when you're an adult, you have to make sacrifices and accept responsibility, ideal and not-so-ideal. Also, be careful what you wish for, as you might get it! A Broadway musical version of "Big" opened in the mid-1990s. The piano dancing sequence is its trademark. I had the privilege to play the role of Paul (the John Heard character) in a summer musical production, and loved it! I highly recommend both the film and the musical!

"Big" is a magnificent movie. Tom Hanks portrays a young boy trapped in the body of a grown man. Imagine one morning, to find yourself trapped in an unfamiliar body. Mr. Hanks creates a vivid character and plays a convincing role as a 13 year old boy who has to deal with the confusion of this sudden change. The child shines through the grown man throughout the movie, in classic scenes such as his first day on the job at the MacMillan Toy Company when he curls his legs underneath him to sit at his desk, and at the company cocktail party when the entire staff chuckles at his choice in tuxedo and his first reaction is to check the fly on his white-sequined pants. Also his nervousness and restlessness during a marketing meeting, and the way he holds up his hand and waits to be called on before making a comment, are all childlike actions. Such small details are what make the character so convincing and Tom Hanks pulls it off brilliantly.

Saw this movie again recently and found that it stands up well to repeat viewings. Tom Hanks meets a difficult challenge here - to convincingly show us how a twelve-year old boy would act if he were trapped in an adult's body and had to "pass" in a grownup world. He meets the challenge in spades, aided by a script that is by turns witty, clever, insightful, and touching, and by Penny Marshall's able direction. Much is added by Robert Loggia's sympathetic portrayal of Tom/Josh's boss, and by Jared Rushton as his friend Billy. The movie is much more than an exercise in slapstick or farce: it is really a disquisition on the wonder of childhood. In the end it is quite touching, if not moving, reminding us all of the innocence of youth and the aching sadness of recalling its loss. Too early to tell, but the film might very well be destined to become a classic.

This charming, sweet, hilarious gem of a film works because Tom Hanks makes you believe he actually is a small boy in the body of an adult.

The interesting trick of what makes the story appealing is not so much the magic that the boy gets his wish to be "big." It's that once he is in an adult, he has to navigate the adult world with the mind of a child -- and ultimately realizes that he is missing something if he makes the leap from boy to man without going through all the fun and the struggle in between. There are several other films that have the boy-to-man switch, but none of them have the depth of understanding about human nature that this film portrays.

The story is wonderfully written and directed, and Tom Hanks is a star. The film made me laugh, and it made me cry. What more can you ask of one movie?