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, Josh lands a job at a toy company. But the more he experiences being an adult, the more Josh longs for the simple joys of childhood.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14811 in DVD
• Brand: TCFHE
• Released on: 2007-05-08
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Color, Director's Cut, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Spanish
• Dubbed in: French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 2
• Dimensions: .35 pounds
• Running time: 130 minutes

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

On the DVD
Penny Marshall's high-concept charmer gets the deluxe treatment in this two-disc set. The first features the theatrical release, an extended edition, and commentary from writers Anne Spielberg (Steven's sister) and Gary Ross (Pleasantville, Seabiscuit). The extra material, over 20 minutes worth, is interesting in and of itself, but the original version remains definitive (one of the deleted scenes features Frances Fischer as Billy's stressed-out mother). As for the commentary or "audio documentary," it combines contemporary comments with archival conversation (the duo taped their brainstorming sessions). Since their words are only loosely linked to the visuals, however, a formal documentary approach probably would've worked better. Still, it's amusing to hear them refer to the adult Josh Baskin as the "Bill Murray or Dan Aykroyd character." (Marshall initially had Robert De Niro in mind, with whom she would work in Awakenings.) Of the five featurettes, four concern aspects of the film, like writing and casting, while The Work of Play profiles toy company employees like the one that employs Josh after he hits adulthood. Participants include Spielberg, Ross, Marshall, producer James L. Brooks and actors Elizabeth Perkins, Robert Loggia, Jared Rushton, and David Moscow--but no Tom Hanks (except in period interviews). The set is rounded out by four trailers. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Customer Reviews

The best of the body swap films...
... 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.

an expertly told modern fairy tale
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.

"Extended" edition ?
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.