Quartile rating: 7.5/10 · 2 ratings
When a young boy makes a wish at a carnival machine to be big—he wakes up the following morning to find that it has been granted and his body has grown older overnight. But he is still the same 13-year-old boy inside. Now he must learn how to cope with the unfamiliar world of grown-ups including getting a job and having his first romantic encounter with a woman.
Big is carried primarily by Tom Hanks's genuinely exceptional, Oscar-nominated performance — his physical comedy and emotional authenticity as a child in an adult body are the film's true engine. The plot is a charming but fairly familiar wish-fulfillment fantasy that hits expected beats without great surprise. Cinematography is functional and unremarkable, typical of late-80s studio comedy. The body-swap/age-change premise was not wholly new even in 1988, though the execution here is warmer and more grounded than most, earning a middling Novelty. The ending is emotionally satisfying but somewhat conventional in its resolution.