Big

 Review

Common Sense Media says

Wonderful story with some mature material.
greenON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age.
yellowPAUSE: Know your child; some content
may not be right for some kids.
redOFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age.
not for kidsNOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age.

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Quality
 
Sometimes media can be age appropriate but a real waste of time. Our star rating assesses the media's overall quality.

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Parents say

Kids say

What parents need to know

Parents need to know that this movie came out before the PG-13 rating, so it earned a PG rating. However, if this movie were released today, it would almost certainly be rated PG-13. There is some strong language and some sexual situations. A child forced to grow up too quickly is exposed to corporate life, sex, and other adult matters.

  • Some innuendo and racy humor for a PG.
  • Not applicable.
  • Some innuendo and breast discussion. Momentary brassiere exposure with hands-on inspection.

What's the story?

Fed up with being little, 12-year-old Josh Baskin makes a wish at a fair's mechanical swami booth and wakes the following morning in a grown man's body. Mortified at what he's done, he flees across the bridge to New York City with his friend Billy to track down the fair and wish himself back to normal. In New York, Josh Tom Hanks stumbles into a computer operator job at MacMillan Toys. His insightfulness gets him promoted overnight and draws the attention of an uptight female executive Elizabeth Perkins. As their relationship develops, Josh begins to mature and settle into his adult skin. It takes Billy, and thoughts of his mother, who thinks her son has been kidnapped, to give Josh the courage to approach the mechanical Zoltar booth again and whisper, "I wish I was small.'"


Is it any good?

 

There aren't very many funny movies about people who get magically transplanted into somebody else's body. The premise is a stale one by now, having shouldered more beatings under Hollywood's bullwhip than the proverbial dead horse. Prelude to a Kiss is one exception. Another is BIG. Both do something intelligent and inventive with that premise, and both are grounded by strong, earnest performances that make the incredible seem credible. Tom Hanks, who would go on a few years later to win back-to-back Oscars for Philadelphia (1993) and Forrest Gump (1994), delivers such a performance here. The scene in which he spends a night alone in a seedy New York motel, fidgeting until he breaks into tears, makes his situation gut-wrenchingly believable. He's not merely imitating the mannerisms of an awkward 12-year-old. There's a profound innocence about him -- that innocence makes him both vulnerable and irresistibly charming.

There are other fine performances here as well. David Moscow, playing the young Josh Baskin, is a terrific counterpart for Hanks. Jared Rushton adds a shake of pepper to the role of his friend Billy, and Elizabeth Perkins looks appropriately bewildered by it all as the reluctant love interest. Penny Marshall directs with an uncharacteristically subdued hand, employing no camera tricks or overblown music here. She lets the performers and the sharp script do the speaking, and gives us something larger than comedy. She gives us something to think about.


What families can talk about

Families can talk about Josh's experiences as an adult. Why does he want to be big, and why does he ultimately decide he wants to be small?


This review was written by Scott G. Mignola
Parent of 15 year old
July 28, 2010
 
What were they thinking?
The only reason I watched BIG in the first place is because it was marketed as a family classic by countless people, including Common Sense. In this case, everyone got that wrong. This is a stupid, low-quality, somewhat perverted movie about a 13 year-old who grows up after wishing on a crummy carnival machine. There's your plot. What Common Sense doesn't tell you is that this kid (Josh), has sex at age 13 with a woman who is probably in her 30s. Even though Josh looks like an adult, he still has the maturity of a 13 year-old, and the whole romance part of the plot struck me as twisted and innapropriate. Even when it is revealed that Josh is only 13, the woman who is slept with seems to have no problem with it. In addition, kids say the "f" word, "s**t", "d**n", and take the Lord's name in vain frequently. Lastly, the movie is poorly made, with a strange lead performance (Hanks acts like he's 5, not 13), a terrible script, and poor direction. Keep this movie away from your family and yourself. You won't enjoy it.

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Educator and Parent of 14 and 15 year old
September 12, 2009
 
Hilarity laced with adult situations
Great 80's movie, but I'd forgotten about the language and sexuality. I watched this recently with my 12 and 13 year olds, and they got to watch Tom Hanks act in his geniusly hilarious way, but they also got to see Tom Hanks exploring Elizabeth Perkins' breast, as a boy, for the first time. I tried to look at the scene from their perspective- young t(w)eens who are curious about how sexuality and love are expressed, and what this scene can teach them. Not a bad message, except that the characters, as usual, immediately hop into bed. One of the biggest messages Hollywood tells our kids is that foreplay ALWAYS leads to intercourse. That's not the main message I want my daughters to receive, and I hope it wasn't. I hope what they received was an evening full of laughter, which is what was intended.

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Teen, 15 years old
February 20, 2011
 
Ugh!
I was extremely disgusted when the main character watched his girlfriend take off her shirt, and turned off the bedroom light. Before that scene, a few suggestive jokes were mentioned, and swearing, beer, and other unnecessary comments/actions took place.

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Adult
April 9, 2008
 
Sweet and funny for grownups
Big is a wonderful, nostalgia-tinged comedy that adults will like better than teens. Much of the humor can only be appreciated with distance from youth. Fair number of swear words and one F-bomb, dropped by a 12 year old, which is why the film really isn't suited for kids under 13...and younger viewers won't laugh at Big anyway. One pretty suggestive romantic scene.

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Teen, 16 years old
April 8, 2011
 
Good movie... not sure I'd watch it again, but I enjoyed it.
Suggested MPAA Rating: PG-13 for language including brief strong language, crude humor, some sexuality, and some smoking.

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Teen, 14 years old
February 20, 2011
 
Good Movie.

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Kid, 12 years old
May 25, 2010
 
Violence (G): The Zoltar machine may be scary to younger audiences. Sexual Content (PG): Josh puts his hands down Susan's blouse, then Susan seduces him. Language (PG): s--t g-ddamn one use of f--k Drugs/Tobacco/Alchohol (G): Susan smokes, Josh drinks some beer.

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Adult
May 3, 2010
 
DEFINITELY NOT A PG MOVIE!!! PG-13 AT BEST!
Tom Hanks grabs a girl's breast, makes plenty of sexual innuendos, and references alcohol. The F-word is dropped in this movie and God's name is taken in vain twice. As soon as that happened the second time, we killed the movie. There were other cursewords and sexual contents... My question is, HOW IN THE WORLD WAS THIS RATED PG!?!?!?

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Parent of 3, 7, 9, 13, and 15 year old
November 27, 2009
 
Good movei
Good movie

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Teen, 18 years old
July 26, 2009
 

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This review was written by Scott G. Mignola
Topics:magic and fantasy, friendship
Studio:Twentieth Century Fox
Director:Penny Marshall
Cast:Elizabeth Perkins, Robert Loggia, Tom Hanks
Genre:Comedy
Run time:104 minutes
Theatrical release date:June 3, 1988
DVD release date:October 5, 1999
MPAA rating:PG
MPAA explanation:language

This review was written by Scott G. Mignola
 

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About our rating system
ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age.
PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids.
OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age.
Learning ratings
BEST: Really engaging, great learning approach.
GOOD: Pretty engaging, good learning approach.
FAIR: Somewhat engaging, OK learning approach.
NOT FOR LEARNING: Not recommended for learning.

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