'Big'

Big is an interesting film because of two things: 1) the lesson and 2) Tom Hanks.

Nobody talks about Tom Hanks but his early stuff (from TV to the early films) are really good and he's a really great comedic actor. I can actually see why some people don't like him. He's safe, for one. He also has a tragic streak in him. He plays the retarded do-gooder (Forrest Gump), the fight-for-your-rights AIDS victim (Philadelphia), the love-lost Robinson Crusoe (Castaway) and the "We follow orders!" wise war veteran (Saving Private Ryan).

My point is that Hanks was once in a movie where he jumped around on a giant piano in one film and had a octopus stuck on his face in another, but all we can get out of him anymore are this big, sweeping epic films about humans overcoming great odds. We'd much prefer him dressed like a woman living in an apartment.

By the way, Hanks was nominated for an Oscar for his performance.

Big is about a boy, who attempts to get on a ride at the carnival that he is very much too short to ride. He wants this because this girl he likes (who is apparently two feet taller than him) is on the ride. In a fit of rage, he makes a wish at a "Zoltar Speaks" booth. He wants to be big.

Fast forward seven hours and he wakes up as a 28-year-old Tom Hanks. He's forced to move to the city and get a job. Fear turns into acclimation which turns into outright upwards career movement and sex. He not only gets used to adulthood, but he embraces it wholly. He wears suits, ignores his former friend and goes to dinner parties.

Seemingly on a whim, he goes back to his old neighborhood where he witnesses kids playing in leaves, teenagers jumping in a car planning their next escapade and others playing baseball. He realizes that he wants to live the 20-odd years he missed because they were all filled with wonder and excitement.

Big has two core audiences: The kid (despite some adult themes ... but you don't give Tom Hanks a Pepsi machine in his apartment unless you want kids to watch) and the 30-year-old yuppie. This is because the kid always wants to be big so he can have a job and buy Pepsi machines to put in their apartment. And 30-year-olds would watch it because its adult themes placed in a kid's mindset.

However, the lessen (regret, reminiscing, good old day syndrome) is something lost on the kid. They don't understand the magic behind a first date, one's first concert, living free and easy. Whereas the 30-year-old knows what its like being 30 (of course) and 12. But the 12-year-old still doesn't think they're going to miss too much between 12 and 30. Big manufactures this feeling of reminiscence for the 12 year old despite them not knowing what it is.