Big

The film that made Tom Hanks a genuine star is now roughly the same age as its grown-up lead was, yet it remains equally as innocent and charming.

Thirteen-year-old Josh Baskin is a typical kid on the cusp of adolescence: goofy, excitable, embarrassed by his parents and just starting to notice girls. When he’s humiliated in front of his crush – by a carnival ride size-shaming him – he skulks off and stumbles across a creepy Zoltar machine that grants his wish to be big. Overnight, Josh gains a couple of decades but loses a lifetime of growing up.

A crowd-pleasing commercial hit upon its release in 1988, Big was also a game-changer: it scored its fresh-faced star his first Oscar nomination and first Golden Globe win, catapulting Hanks into the A list; meanwhile, former actor Penny Marshall (Laverne in Laverne & Shirley), directing for only the second time, became the first woman to helm a movie earning more than $100 million at the US box office. Hanks had his doubts when first approached for the project – spooked by a prior string of similarly themed films – but with its affable humour and sweet-natured take on the subject, Big quickly eclipsed them all to become the definitive age-changing body-swap classic.

“Hanks’ work here is astoundingly deft and light-fingered. His performance has an endearing, lost-innocent quality … Big has a warm-hearted sweetness that’s invigorating.” – The Washington Post