Big – 25th Anniversary Edition: Blu-ray Review
The Movie:
More than anything else, 13-year old New Jerseyite Josh (David Moscow) wants to be big. That’s the wish he makes at an odd-looking amusement pier fortunetelling machine. The next morning, Josh wakes up-only to discover that he’s grown to manhood overnight! (At this point, the part is taken over by Tom Hanks). Still a 13-year-old mentally and emotionally, Josh decides to hide out in New York City until he can figure out what to do next. He lucks into a job with a major toy company run by kid-at-heart McMillan (Robert Loggia). By cannily bringing a child’s eye view to McMillan’s business, Josh rises to the top-and in process, he falls in love with fellow employee Susan (Elizabeth Perkins). But he’s still a kid, and he’d like to go back to his own world and own body.
It’s hard to believe that it’s already been 25 years since this film came out because I can remember it just like yesterday. Over the years I have been able to enjoy it over and over while growing up and I can say with no hesitation that it still is as good as the very first time I saw it. It truly is an experience that everyone can relate to. When you’re a kid all you can think about is wanting to grow up and get older but then you realize that being a grown up is kind of hard sometimes. Every person has felt that way at one point or another which in turn makes this a film that future generations will be able to easily continue to relate to and identify with. What more can be said about Hanks that hasn’t been said a million times over already. He has proven himself to be THE top actor in the world and you can see shades of things to come from his performance in the film. One scene that is cemented in my mind is when he spends the first night all by himself in a hotel room in the city. You can easily see throughout the movie that he completely engulfs the role and when you see him scared and crying himself to sleep you can really see a 12 year old boy as opposed to a grown man in that scene. Then of course there’s one of the most famous scenes around where Josh jumps on the oversized keyboard and plays chopsticks with McMillian that is so iconic that no one can ever see something like that the same. I’d like to take a quick moment to talk about the packaging of the blu-ray. It comes covered by the usual cardbord sleeve but this specific one opens up and much to my surprise plays “Heart & Soul”:
Theatrical or Extended Cut Of The Film
Deleted Scenes – A good group of eight scenes that were decent enough to include in this release.
Big Beginnings – A great feature involving the writers where they talk a bit about how they came up with the idea and the struggles of meeting their deadline.
Chemistry of a Classic – A few people from the cast and crew look back on their experiences while making the film.
The World of Play – Executives from various toy companies talk about the process that goes into getting toys on the store shelves.
AMC Backstory: Big – A fantastic documentary on the film with cast and crew (including Hanks) talking about the production process.
Carnival Party Newswrap – A collection of clips of the party held following the premiere of the film.
