Big (1988)

It was really fun watching this movie again. Tom Hanks is superb and shows us why he went on to make some more spectacular movies in the following years.

Josh is a 13-year-old boy anxious to enter life as an adult and gets his wish magically. As a 13-year-old adult he gets a dream job testing and developing toys for a big company in New York City. His innocence captures the heart of one of his co-workers and he ends up falling in love.

But really, this whole set-up helps us appreciate childhood, with all of it's pain, joy and fascination. And this film does it beautifully with help from excellent and underrated director Penny Marshall (Riding in Cars with Boys, Awakenings). We easily believe that Hanks is a young boy and he draws us back into our own childhood, into the wonder that we tend to grow out of.

I have to mention that Jon Lovitz, though only on screen for a few minutes, is hilarious.

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