Big – Tom Hanks

• Cert:
• Cat.no: 01658 DVD
• Running time: 99 minutes
• Year: 1988
• Pressing: 2001
• Region(s): 2, PAL
• Chapters: 24 plus extras
• Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0 (Dolby Surround)
• Languages: English
• Subtitles: 11 languages available
• Widescreen: 1.85:1
• 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
• Macrovision: Yes
• Disc Format: DVD 5
• Price: £15.99
• Extras: Trailer

Director:

Penny Marshall

(Awakenings, Big, Jumpin’ Jack Flash, A League Of Their Own, The Preacher’s Wife, Renaissance Man, Riding in Cars with Boys, TV: A League Of Their Own)

Producer:

Screenplay:

Music:

Cast:

Josh Baskin: Tom Hanks
Susan: Elizabeth Perkins
MacMillan: Robert Loggia
Paul: John Heard
Billy: Jared Rushton
Young Josh: David Moscow
Scott Brenner: Jon Lovitz
Mrs Baskin: Mercedes Ruehl

Big is one of Tom Hanks‘early classics that still gets much airing today given that it’s simple butcharming fare and is completely inoffensive.

Young Josh Baskin (David Moscow) visits the fair and tries his handat a wishing machine, asks to be big. The machine tells him his wish has beengranted. Great, so all he’s got is a piece of printed card for his quarter…only he then discovers “Zoltar” was unplugged.

Next morning he wakes up as Tom Hanks, which presents all manner ofcomedic opportunities, all of them taken, from first seeing his new reflectionin the mirror, trying to convince his best friend Billy (Jared Rushton)that he’s the real deal, getting a job at MacMillan Toys because at his agehe should know exactly what kids want to play with, playing Chopsticks ona floor-keyboard (aped by Homer in a later episode of The Simpsonsand he also falls in love with colleague Susan (Elizabeth Perkins), butit’s a love that can never be, as things turn out.

The cast also includes Robert Loggia as his boss MacMillan,Jon Lovitz as comedic colleague Scott, a much thinner John Heardas embittered colleague Paul and Mercedes Ruehl as Josh’s mother.

Two can play at that game…

The film looks and sounds good, with a 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transferand sound in Dolby Surround, giving clear dialogue and crisp sound FX whererequired, but why didn’t anyone think to provide a DD5.1 remix?The average bitrate is 5.46b/s, often peaking over 7Mb/s.

The only extra is a 2½-minute 4:3 trailer that you’ll watch once.There are 24 chapters to the film which is fine and subtitles in 11 languages:English for the hard of hearing, Czech, Danish, Finnish, Hebrew, Hungarian,Icelandic, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese and Swedish. Menus are static andsilent.

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