Big

1 9 8 8 (USA)

Josh Baskin is a 12-year-old boy who makes a wish "to be big". The next day, he wakes up in the grownup body of Tom Hanks. He goes to New York, gets a job in a toy company and even gets a girlfriend (Elizabeth Perkins) - all the while acting like a typical 12-year-old. 

At the start of the film, Josh is still a 12-year-old New Jerseyite, madly in puppy love with an older blonde girl. Josh and best friend Billy head for a local carnival, where right in front of his blonde goddess and a crowd of older kids, Josh is refused admission to a carnival ride because he's too little. Humiliated, Josh tries the "Zoltar Speaks" machine, which offers him one wish. He wishes he were big.

The next morning, Josh wakes up to find his wish has come true. Naturally, Josh's mother doesn't believe this grown man is her son, forcing Josh to run from home screaming. Billy does believe him, and convinces Josh to head for New York City, where big people go to play.

Josh scores a data entry job at a toy company, but after a kid-to-kid-at-heart bonding session with company owner Mac MacMillan at FAO Schwartz (the famous giant piano keyboard sequence), the man-boy is promoted to VP of product development. He soon moves into a gorgeous Manhattan apartment, complete with a pinball machine and giant indoor trampoline.

Fellow exec Paul doesn't like the new guy, but Susan slowly warms up to Josh's innocent charms. From an adult perspective, things look pretty rosy for big Josh, but Josh doesn't see things from an adult perspective. Big has its advantages, but Josh just wants to be himself again.

Big's sweet, childlike nature won over audiences young and old, who made the film one of the biggest hits of the year. The movie also helped turn Tom Hanks - who was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance - from the gifted goof of Splash and TV's Bosom Buddies into one of the biggest leading men in Hollywood.