My Favorite Tom Hanks Movies - Big

The 1988 movie "Big" has been one of my favorite Tom Hanks movies since I first saw it, and I have lost count of just how many times I have watched this great movie over the years.

Directed by Penny Marshall, this cute story of Josh Baskin, a boy who has reached his teens and wishes to be big, is perfectly cast, and has some classic scenes, in which Tom Hanks just excels as the highly talented actor that he is.

Having made a wish to be big on a "Zoltar" machine in a video arcade, Josh wakes up the next morning to find that his wish has been granted, and he has turned into an adult overnight, but only in appearance of course, he is still a 12 year old boy inside.

To cut a long story short and not give away the whole plot, his Mom thinks that adult Josh is an intruder and he runs off, his best friend helping him to move to the city, where he spends the night in a sleazy hotel room, and they file a request with the city to find the location of all the Zoltar machines, so he can return to normal again.  

The search is going to take a month to be prepared, so Josh manages to get a job in IT with a toy company so he has some form of income to support him until the report arrives.

One of the most popular clips for most people has to be where the adult Josh (played by Tom Hanks) is spotted by the boss of the toy company (played by Robert Loggia) in FAO Schwarz, a humongous toy store, where he is playing with toys like a 12 year old in an adult body.  The scene of Tom Hanks and Robert Loggia playing chopsticks on a floor piano in the toy store is brilliantly funny as well as being very clever.

The boss of the company takes a shine to him, and he is taken from IT to product development and testing, which causes jealousy from another employee who tries to make him look small, which backfires because as a 12 year old, Josh speaks the truth when it comes to toys, and following a presentation of the new toy which is a robot that turns into a skyscraper, he says "I don't get it!", and the others in the meeting agree with him, it's a dumb idea.

Another classic scene is at the company Christmas party, where Tom Hanks enters the function room in a white tuxedo, and samples the buffet, doing what most 12 year olds would do on trying caviar for the first time. 

This to me is a cute movie, with a young Tom Hanks at his best, and Elizabeth Perkins too is just delightful as Josh's girlfriend, who ultimately finds out why he acts so much like a young teen.

If you haven't seen Big, I highly recommend it, for adults and kids alike.

Top 25 Tom Hanks Movies
Big on IMDB.com