The fact that I absolutely adore this movie comes as a huge shock to me since Tom Hanks is one of those actors I find completely overrated. There are really only a handful of his films I can even attest to enjoying (`Cast Away', shockingly, as well as `Saving Private Ryan') but for the most part I find his work a tad overrated (ala `Forest Gump' and `Philadelphia'). `Big', of all of Hanks' work, is probably my favorite. It is most definitely my favorite performance he's ever given and honestly this very performance may cause me to rethink everything I've already concluded about this Hollywood icon.

Penny Marshal's extremely successful family hit `Big' tells the story of twelve-year-old Josh, a kid tired of being a kid who makes a hasty wish to be an adult and winds up getting exactly what he wished for, with mixed results. Unable to explain what happened to him, Josh takes off from home until he can sort things out. This leaves him alone and confused and his parents distraught and heartbroken. Soon Josh starts to adjust, quite well at that. He lands himself a high profile job, acquires a very nice apartment and ends up dating a beautiful coworker.

While everything may seem to be going in the right direction, `Big' ever so delicately asks whether or not a normal childhood is worth giving up.

The script is beautifully written; in such a way that one can't help but relate to the main characters and become a part of their story. This is also hinged strongly on Hanks' masterful performance. He really adapts the mannerisms and mental wavelength of a child of twelve and exhibits those characteristics perfectly. He becomes Josh (thanks to some great method acting from what I hear) and thus sells us on a rather preposterous story.

The rest of the cast also delivers strongly here, especially the likes of Elizabeth Perkins and Robert Loggia. Perkins plays Josh's love interest Susan with ample amounts curiosity and admiration. She becomes a believable woman, a believable lover. Robert Loggia doesn't have a lot of screen time, but he is love for me here. Seriously, his little piano-key dancing scene with Hanks is my favorite scene in the film, and the look on his face is that look of found boyishness that just exudes such presence. John Heard nails the egotistical corporate climber as Paul, Josh's nemeses. He is the memorable villain, the guy you love to hate.

Young actor Jared Rushton (of `Honey I Shrunk the Kids' fame) delivers a fine performance as well here, matching Hanks almost every step of the way; and Mercedes Ruehl's tortured mother is touching and heartbreaking all at the same time.

What is so great about `Big' is that it manages to be lighthearted and warm while still tackling a big message. It never waters down its message or makes light of it in order to sell itself as a family `fluff' film but instead creates a very touching and moving experience that makes us think and laugh at the same time. While I feel that there is something extremely `wrong' with this film (I just had this shiver go down my spine when I realized that Josh and Susan, you know, did `it') I can't help but love it despite its questionable deviance from morality. I'm not picking just so you know, and I understand that it is a `movie', but come on; you can't tell me that the fact that he was twelve didn't just hit you with unease.

Anyways...

Penny Marshall is one of our great female directors today. She knows how to make a memorable and tender film (if you don't believe me then watch `Awakenings' and call me after you dry your tear drenched face) and `Big' is no exception. Probably her biggest hit (although I think I prefer `Awakenings') and one of her most widely acclaimed motion pictures, `Big' is truly one of a kind. Hanks outdoes himself here and truly changes my perception of his career.

this is another really cute movie. Tom hanks looks so very young and cute in this movie while he was so much younger and was still a new actor back then. Even Elizabeth Perkins looks very hot and quiet stunning in the movie. Overall its a good pass time movie and also quiet entertaining with all the thrill that takes place between tom hanks & Elizabeth Perkins right from the beginning to the end. Being a movie buff I would also recommend this movie for ones private collection.

This is a very enjoyable movie. Done very well and as alwyas Tom Hanks delivers!

Now he what to undo the wish but he and his friend have to find the macine first. he Doesn't like being Big. Great movie!

When it was first released in 1988, "Big" instantly became one of my favorite films. 20 years later, I can still say the same thing. This film not only "holds up" well, it is still a timeless classic. It is the story of 12 year old Josh Baskin, who wishes he were "big" after being humiliated at a carnival for not being tall enough to ride an attraction in front of the classmate that he has a crush on. His wish is granted by the arcade machine, Zoltar, and the next morning, he wakes up as a 30 year old (Tom Hanks). He's kicked out of the house by his mother, who thinks he is a pervert who has broken in. To make matters worse, he can't reverse the wish for at least another 30 days. On the advice of his best buddy, Billy (Jared Rushton), he gets a job in New York City to pass the time and earn some money to live on. Josh quickly moves up the ladder at MacMillan Toy Company, and also attracts the attention of Susan Lawrence (Elizabeth Perkins), who has made a habit of sleeping with the new up-and-coming executives. The longer he inhabits his 30-year old body, the more he grows away from his childhood buddy, Billy. However, the day of reckoning eventually comes when he must make a choice.

Hanks & Perkins give outstanding performances; instead of "playing" a 12 year old, Hanks actually becomes one. His innocence is totally believable. Perkins plays the part of the ambitious Susan to perfection, and she is the perfect love interest for Hanks. Talk about chemistry!

This 2-Disc Edition gives you 2 versions of the movie; one is the theatrical version, and the other is an Extended Cut (note: NOT a director's cut...just an extra 20 minutes or so added back in). Skip the extended version; it adds nothing, and if anything slows the pacing down and adds sub plots that are meaningless (example: Billy's shrewish mother, played by Frances Fisher). The picture is wonderful; good detail and color. The sound is extremely disappointing. A 2 channel stereo mix? Where's the 5.1? In this day and age, hard to believe they couldn't have put together a nice surround mix for this one. It would really be fantastic in the Billy Idol limo scene!

There is an interesting "commentary" track by the writers/creators of "Big," Gary Ross & Anne Spielberg. Although extremely interesting, this would have been better as an audio-only supplement. A nice commentary that corresponds with the picture by director Marshall or Hanks would have been better. The track consists of current interviews with Ross & Spielberg (yes, Steven's sister) who introduce vintage audio tapes that they made while they brainstormed the idea of what would become "Big." The tapes do not correspond to what you see on your screen. Yes, it is interesting, but after awhile, it gets somewhat annoying having to listen to Gary continually talk over Anne and not letting her ideas be heard. It does appear that much of the movie that we know and love came from Anne, who quietly (and thankfully) persisted with her vision.

Disc 2 includes deleted scenes with commentary by director Penny Marshall. For one of her first movies, she does an excellent job. As did Anne, she had a vision of what the film and especially Hanks' performance should be and she stuck with it, despite the risks (example: at least 3 other age-change movies were ready for release before "Big" would be finished). There are a number of featurettes: "Big Beginnings", "Chemistry of a Classic", AMC Backstory, "The Work of Play," and "Carnival Party Newswrap" (a vintage film showing the wrap party for "Big."). There is a fair amount of overlap in all the extras, as Marshall, Ross, and Spielberg are the main contributors. Still, plenty of interesting tidbits; we came this close to seeing Robert DeNiro in the lead role. It is also interesting to hear the young stars of the film, David Moscow (young Josh) and Jared Rushton, discuss the filming. Perkins also gives some fun insights as well. Theatrical trailer and TV Spots round out this edition.

Overall, a nice set, but there is definitely room to grow for the next outing of this classic film.

Big is one of the most magaical films without special effects that I've ever seen. Tom Hanks broke away from TV & other typical roles and became a full flegeded star in the form of this film. Tome Hanks garned a well deseverd oscar nod for and Penny Marshall proved she was a good director and this is still one my favorite Penny films. Hopefully one day someone will release a better DVD with the alternate ending and a commentary from David Moscow and Tom Hanks.

This is one of my favorite Tom Hanks movies. It is very funny. A very good movie.

I have always loved Tom Hanks but this is still one of my favorite movies of his. His acting is amazing. You would actually think that he is a 12 year old boy. All the acting is great including Robert Loggia, John Heard and Elizabeth Perkins. The movie is well done and a realistic ending besides. Great movie!!! This is one of these movies that you can watch over and over again. It is timeless.

My VHS version was dying so I upgraded to the DVD and watched it for the first time in years. It still makes me laugh after all this time. This is truly one of Tom Hanks best early movies and is worth watching again.

Big starring Tom Hanks is still sweet, delighful, and brilliant as ever! Directed by Penny Marshall, Big is a film I used to watch over and over again as a kid, and now the film has been re-released on DVD with an extended edition. Hank's performance is so endearing, he is probably the only actor who can pull off vulnerability and physical comedy all at the same time. I highly recommend this feel-good comedy, a must-have!

Well, it was great to have extended version of the legendary classic-wanna call it a classic.

But I felt a little sad knowing the fact that it's still 2 channel only.

Actually there's not many scenes that I am dying to see in 5.1 or even 6.1 channel since this is not like Star Wars, but still it's DVD.

As stated in the title it was a request from my grandson and he says that he likes the movie.

This is a great movie. I enjoyed this movie on DVD years ago. I was very happy to find it on DVD at Amazon. I liked the additional footage. It helped answer a few of the questions you might have from the original film. This is a great family movie.

I bought this movie to share with my granddaughter when she vists. It is one we can share together--a rarity.

In the eighties, the comedy genre assailed with strength invective around the world, (The meaning of life, Brazil, Consuming passions, Buffet froid Choose me) specially during the middle years. And "Big" not only smartly innovated the proposal around the always disturbing question: what if you or me had the chance to return over our vanished youthful? But answered and cleverly responded as a joke. As you may realize, a considerable number of Fellini works (Amarcord, The clowns)turned around this aspect.

But the touch of genius of the screenwriters was to employ two well defined ages (adult and son and exchange them); allowing to express a duality with the expected tangles of the case.

And if we scrutinize with detail, we should cite this celebrated film as the second most original comedy of the eighties, because of the fact Zelig was much more audacious, irreverent and loaded of major sardonic intentions.

Big will be probably an obligated reference pattern for many filmmakers that really want to risk and bet for this risked genre.

It is fun to see everyone when they're young. A FUNNY movie from start to finish.

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.

Irresistible film brings off far-fetched premise with warmth and charm. Hanks excels as man-boy Josh, and Robert Loggia is also terrific as the toy magnate who mentors him. But it's John Heard who has a comic field day playing Paul, a suspicious, resentful colleague who loses ground professionally and personally to Josh, as both his boss and girlfriend Susan (Perkins) reject him for this wunderkind who came out of nowhere. Don't miss the priceless scene where Josh and Susan have their first "sleep-over".

This is hands down Tom Hank's best movie to date... followed close by Forrest Gump.

I have seen this film many times and now I have watched the extended edition. This is one of those rare exceptions when a extended edition is welcome! The added scenes are not just garbage that should have never left the cutting room floor,but helpful scenes that answer many question I had in the original cut of the film. This is a worthy purchase because you get both version on this set,plus some interesting extras! The transfer is excellent!

This is one of the top ten movies of the 1980's to come out that is a must see! This movie is an endearing story about friendship and the wonderful memories of childhood. Tom Hanks of course carries off the character very well and makes you love him! This extended version is great because it gives more details than the original version that were left unanswered. I loved it back then when it first came out and I love it even more now!! Great Flick!

Great extra features, nice clean print of the now "classic" film

This has always been one of my favorite movies, and the extras on this version are great. I love the behing the scenes background information and the way the story was conceived and develped is really interesting. I highly recommend this DVD.

Maybe it's me, but I'm not sure exactly what happened here. There's a kid and he gets kidnapped at a carnival and then Tom Hanks gets a job at a toy factory and Mercedes Ruhl is his mom?

If the game was unplugged how could it have worked? And how come we couldn't see Mercedes Ruhl taking a shower or maybe curling her hair in a towel?

And Elizabeth Perkins is pretty much unlovable, but the script forces Hanks and her together. She ditches her other boyfriend at the drop of a hat, because she thinks Hanks has more corporate potential. Well, that's about as shallow as you can get, right?

I mean I got dumped once. ONCE! And the woman who's name I won't name said to me, "Navy, you're too handsome and talented for me, I don't deserve someone as noble and caring and prone to wearing sequins berets like you."

And I said to her, "Listen, Carla Higgs who lives at 418 N. Castro St. in San Francisco, I know what you're saying. I hear it all the time. And I understand where you're coming from and just because your social security number is 452-666-6666, doesn't not definitely mean you're the child of satan. Though, it's pretty likely with your mood swings and that fine little mustache you have."

One of the most enjoyable films of the 80s is Big, in which Tom Hanks... well, you already know by now.

I liked almost everything about this 2-disc set.

One MAJOR gotcha, however. Or maybe two, depending on how you look at it.

If you play the Extended Cut (Disc 1) with the Commentary set to On, you get a) no commentary, and b) a Spanish soundtrack.

If you play the Theatrical version with Commentary set to On, you get essentially nothing BUT commentary. No dialog from the film can be heard, as far as I could tell.

Playing Theatrical or Extended versions with Commentary set to Off is just fine.

The Extras disc is nice, but the aforementioned flaws should truly be addressed.

That pretty much anyone, regardless of mental age, can become a corporate vice president -- it's all a matter of timing.

I'm not a big Tom Hanks fan, I admit, but I do admire him for what he was able to achieve. He is one of the few actors who started off as a comic and made a successful transition to dramatic actor that was accepted by audiences and peers alike. This was, I believe, his transition role that would lead him into his dramatic future.

Tom Hanks plays Josh (as an adult). Josh makes a wish on a carnival game that he were big. The next day, he wakes up a 12 year old boy in a 30 year old's body. Suddenly driven out of the house, he is now forced into the adult world overnight and must deal with all the hilarious adult things from a kid's perspective.

It was a good movie, put into that catagory of "feel good", to be sure. But, it was a little too hooky for my tastes now. When he wakes up a 30 year old man, how would he ever get his own place to live, a job, and a girlfriend if he had the mind of a 12 year old? In New York City, no less. The scene in the toy store was cute, of course, and it just so happens that he gets a job working for a toy company.

I recently read that they changed the ending. The original ending was that he would make a wish on the same game to be 12 again, and, his girlfriend would also wish to be 12 with him. Test audiences said they didn't want this to happen, they wanted them to split. I would have been curious as to see what the outcome could have been if they went with the original ending.

I remember when i was younger going to see this film with my brother and sisters and really enjoying it this extended cut of big is as great as the original cinema cut with an additional 25 minutes of footage not included in the original release the deleted scenes on the second disc are just the extra scenes that are in the extended cut but with the option of watching either cut of the film on the 1st disc it has to be a great buy and being a buyer from the uk i am pleased that i bought this release as 1 of my 1st ever imports

The new two-DVD edition of BIG is definitely worth adding to your library. Not only do you get the Penny Marshall Director's Cut with about twenty minutes of previously edited material, but commentary by the writers, and on the second DVD, a wealth of material on the making of the film (did you know that Robert De Niro was originally slated to play Josh Baskin?)

The film is still one of the best body-switching movies ever made (and there were four of them all made at the same time!). It really explores the world of a twelve-year-old boy suddenly thrust into an adult existence, and Tom Hanks' performance is nothing short of a revelation. This was his first shot at a really meaty film role, and he brought all of his past experience on stage, on TV and on screen to create a totally believable Josh Baskin. His Oscar nomination was most deserved.

The rest of the cast is just great, and this new cut gives them much more depth of character (besides, where else are you gonna see tough guy Robert Loggia do a duck walk?)

Thank you to Fox for a job well done.

This movie is a classic. I put off buying the dvd and stuck with my vhs copy till a special edition was released. I was very glad when I found out about this upcoming special edition dvd. I plan on getting this and That Thing You Do when they come out the same day. Tom Hanks is a genius.

BIG,is indeed 1988's highest-grossing film. Laverne & Shirley veteran Penny Marshall directs Tom Hanks in this comedy about a pre-teen boy who wishes he was taller than his actual four-foot(estimate) height. The juvenile Josh Baskin,played by an infamous actor,is at a carnival with a buddy or two,and makes the aforementioned wish. So when he goes to bed that night,he wakes up as the adult Josh(Hanks). Suddenly,he's working at a white collar business and falls in love with a female colleague(Elizabeth Perkins). Josh's mother(Mercedes Ruehl) suspected that the kid Josh was kidnapped by the adult Josh! The adult Josh tries to explain to his 30ish-40ish mother that his height increased suddenly. In the final scene,Josh is back to his kid self. Great support from Saturday Night Live veteran Jon Lovitz(MR. DESTINY,CITY SLICKERS 2). Interestingly,this film was theatrically released twice in 1988,first on June 10 and again on December 23. This was one of the very best of Hanks' film career,inarguably. Hanks' fans loved him also in SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE,YOU'VE GOT MAIL,SPLASH,THE MONEY PIT,CAST AWAY and of course,FORREST GUMP.

and who would think that Tom Hanks was that young just 10 years or so ago. Good family fun.

This was a request by my wife. She loves Tom Hanks.

A fun movie for all ages! Tom Hanks is a thirteen year old boy that is small for his age and can't wait to grow up. At a carnival Tom makes that wish to be big and wakes up the next morning a grown up. This hilarious movie is about how he lives as a grown up and see if it is better being BIG

I bought this movie because I love Tom Hanks' pictures (not all of them, but 99.98%). This is another classic young Hanks; a picture which can be watched over and over for comedic relief!! Thank you Mr. Hanks!!!