Product Details

• Actors: Tom Hanks, Elizabeth Perkins, Robert Loggia, John Heard, Jared Rushton
• Directors: Penny Marshall
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, HiFi Sound, Original recording reissued, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• VHS Release Date: February 6, 2001
• Run Time: 115 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (129 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 630339406X
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #9,318 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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  #2 in	Video > Comedy > Comedy Directors > Penny Marshall
  #17 in	Video > Comedy > Comedy Stars > Tom Hanks
  #21 in	Video > Comedy > Urban

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential video
A perfect marriage of novel but incisive writing, acting, and direction, Big is the story of a 12-year-old boy who wishes he were older, and wakes up one morning as a 30-year-old man (Tom Hanks). The script by Gary Ross (Dave) and Anne Spielberg finds some unexpected ways of attacking obvious issues of sex, work, and childhood friendships, and in all of these things the accent is on classy humor and great sensitivity. Hanks is remarkable in the lead, at times hilarious (reacting to caviar just as a 12-year-old would) and at others deeply tender. Penny Marshall became a first-rate filmmaker with this 1988 work. --Tom Keogh

Product Description
At a carnival, young Josh Baskin (HANKS) wishes he was big-only to awake the next morning and discover he is! With the help of his friend Billy (JARED RUSHTON), Josh lands a job at a toy company. There, his inner wisdom enables him to successfully predict what children want to buy, making the awestruck, naïve Josh irresistible to a beautiful ladder-climbing colleague (ELIZABETH PERKINS). But the more he experiences being an adult, the more Josh longs for the simple joys of childhood.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best of the body swap films..., January 30, 2005

By	Big Joe '83 (Melbourne, VIC Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Big (DVD)

... and there's no body swapping in it!

This film has aged really well; the comedy and dialogue is really sharp, the acting is believable and there's never a dull moment. Instead of going over the story, I want to quote what screenwriting legend, Robert McKee wrote about the film which rings true; "At the crisis, Josh [Tom Hanks] faces irreconcilable goods; an adult life with a fulfilling career and the woman he loves verus a return to adolescence. He makes the mature choice to have his childhood expressing with fine irony that he at last became 'big'. For he and we sense that the key to maturity is to have had a complete childhood. But becuase life has short-changed so many of us in youth, we live, to one degree or another, in a false sense of maturity. BIG is a very wise film."

Sure the toys have changed and yes, Billy Idol is tied to the soundtrack but the message still remains the same. This should be required viewing for all families.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars an expertly told modern fairy tale, December 11, 2004

By	J. Buettner "Jaws Fan" (Folsom, Ca) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Big (DVD)

This film still contains Tom Hanks best performance in my opinion. Big is an expertly told modern fairy tale that captures perfectly the innocence and the enthusiasm of youth. This movie gets flawless performances from all the actors and actresses involved. It reminds us all of when we were young and Big is a testament to why we should always stay young at heart.

Big is among my favorite films of all-time and I honestly can't see any reason why someone would dislike this movie. In fact I believe it is the best movie to be made in the 80's and it's huge heart will allow Big too stand the test of time.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Extended" edition ?, July 21, 2007

By	G.V. "Gerry" (Mexico City, Mexico) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Big (Extended Edition) (DVD)

Experience tells me there's two kinds of "Extended editions": the first are the ones in which the director was forced to do something against his will to fit the movie to a certain length (see Terminator 2, Aliens, Blade Runner, etc.), and the second are the ones in which the outakes weren't all that damaged so the studio took a strictly merchandising decision.
BIG EXTENDED EDITION is obviously the latter but don't let that discourage you, this is one of the funniest films of the 80s and there's is no question it was the one film that took Tom Hanks from OK TV star to bona fide movie star.
My favorite scene: the eating of the "little corn". I loved learning from the extras that it was totally the product of improvising at the last second !
This is an excelent DVD, it's just that my next viewing of it will be by choosing the original cut.