\nBig: 25th Anniversary Edition (1988)<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nGenre(s): <\/b>Comedy, Fantasy, Drama
\nFox | PG\/Unrated \u2013 104 min. \/ 130 min. \u2013 $19.99 | December 10, 2013
\n<\/b><\/p>\n
MOVIE INFO:
\n<\/span>Directed by: <\/b>Penny Marshall
\nWriter(s): <\/b>Gary Ross & Anne Spielberg (written by)
\nCast: <\/b>Tom Hanks, Elizabeth Perkins, Robert Loggia, John Heard, Jared Rushton<\/p>\nTheatrical Release Date: <\/b>June 3, 1988<\/p>\n
DISC INFO:
\n<\/span>Features: <\/b>Featurettes, Deleted Scenes, Theatrical Trailers, DVD Copy
\nNumber of Discs: <\/b>2<\/p>\nAudio: <\/b>English (DTS-HD MA 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 2.0), Spanish (Dolby Digital 1.0), Portuguese (Dolby Digital 1.0)
\nVideo: <\/b>1080p\/Widescreen 1.85
\nSubtitles: <\/b>English SDH, Spanish
\nDisc Size: <\/b>37.6 GB
\nCodec: <\/b>MPEG-4 AVC
\nRegion(s): <\/b>A<\/p>\n
Note: <\/b>Much of this review was copied over from my original review of the initial Big<\/i> Blu-ray release.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.moviemansguide.com\/images\/main\/bar_blue.gif\" "\\"*\\"")
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THE MOVIE<\/strong> \u2013 4.5\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\nPlot: <\/b>All twelve-year-old Josh Baskin wants is to be big. But when his wish is granted beyond his wildest dreams, Josh finds a new face in the mirror… his own, at age 30. Now, aided only by his boisterous best friend, he\u2019ll have to keep the secret of his true age as he tries to fill his own oversized shoes. But as his innocent charm help him rise to the top of the adult world, Josh will face the biggest decision of his life \u2013 return to his own age, or remain big forever.<\/p>\n
Every kid always imagines what it would be like to be an adult and wish they could grow up quicker… of course once they grow up, at least a small part of them wish they could go back to their childhood days. Big<\/i> <\/b>examines the mindset of a young soon-to-be teenager as he takes notice of the opposite sex and propels him into a cynical and cutthroat adult world.<\/p>\n
Not only is Big<\/i><\/b> a funny movie but it\u2019s also notable for a great performance by Tom Hanks who by 1988 was known for light-hearted comedies like Splash<\/i>, Bachelor Party<\/i> and The Money Pit<\/i> (and even after \u201988, he still had Joe Versus the Volcano<\/i>), so from 1984 through 1990, Tom Hanks was coming into his own and it probably was Big<\/i> <\/b>that showcased what we would later see in Apollo 13<\/i>, Philadelphia<\/i> and Saving Private Ryan<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Nominated for a Best Actor Oscar, Tom Hanks gives an absolutely charming performance that very few even gifted actors could achieve. Watching the film for the first time in many years, I not only noticed how great Hanks was but how well mapped out the character development from writers Gary Ross (the man behind the semi-underrated Dave<\/i>) and Anne Spielberg.<\/p>\n
Of course, Big<\/i> <\/b>wasn\u2019t exactly a new idea as so many other movies of the late 80s dealt with the whole body-swapping (18 Again<\/i>, Vice Versa<\/i>, etc) but it probably was the most well done of them all. Although I\u2019m sure the others had good intentions, Big<\/i><\/b> just felt real even through the unexplained fantasy elements (kind of like Groundhog Day<\/i>, it just \u201chappened\u201d).<\/p>\n
Also of note are some solid performances from Elizabeth Perkins and, especially, Robert Loggia who is a part of one of the most iconic 80s scenes as he and Hanks dance on a large keyboard performing \u201cHeart and Soul\u201d and \u201cChopsticks\u201d.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
SPECIAL FEATURES \u2013 3.0\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\nThis \u201c25th Anniversary Edition\u201d release is merely a repackaging of the 2009 release with a DVD Copy<\/span><\/b> and a fold-out on the front of the slip cover<\/b> which has a rendition of \u201cchopsticks\u201d. That\u2019s all that is new and all the features have been ported over:<\/p>\nExtended Cut<\/span><\/b> is 26-minutes longer and while certainly good adding extra dimensions, I kind of prefer the theatrical version, though I know others enjoy this one more…<\/p>\nFirst up, is an audio documentary<\/span><\/b> with writers Gary Ross and Anne Spielberg and also feature tape recordings of their initial ideas. There\u2019s some commentary about the writing but there\u2019s quite a bit of recordings so this may not be the best track for fans of commentaries.<\/p>\nNext up are 5 featurettes which I will quickly rundown for you:
\nBig Beginnings (16:30)<\/span><\/b> where the aforementioned writers talk about the origins of the project and later joined by producer James L. Brooks<\/p>\nChemistry of a Classic (23:45)<\/span><\/b> goes over bringing the pieces together from the director to the brilliant casting of Tom Hanks and even how Robert De Niro was in the mix (I like De Niro, but that would have been a disastrous choice)<\/p>\nThe Work of Play (9:54)<\/span><\/b> is about the toy business intertwined with footage from the movie<\/p>\nAMC Backstory: Big (21:15)<\/span><\/b> and Carnival Party News Wrap (1:33)<\/span><\/b> are just some basic older (well, the AMC one was probably filmed for the initial DVD release) promotional features.<\/p>\nDeleted Scenes (13:42)<\/span><\/b> \u2013 There are eight scenes here, most if not all were included with the extended cut. Most of the scenes are fine but admittedly the one dealing with the best friend\u2019s home life was not needed. I did like the scene between Robert Loggia and Tom Hanks was good. Some are available with optional commentary from Penny Marshall.<\/p>\nLastly the theatrical trailers<\/span><\/b> and TV spots<\/span><\/b> were also included.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
VIDEO \u2013 3.5\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\nI\u2019m all for giving \u2018older\u2019 films the high-def treatment, but rarely are they worth the upgrade over sometimes an already respectable special edition DVD. Unfortunately as great a film that Big<\/i><\/b> is, I\u2019m not sure if it\u2019s worth buying if you already own the \u201cextended edition\u201d on DVD. The movie is presented in 1080p high-def with its original 1.85 aspect ratio and while the video isn\u2019t bad to look at, detail levels are not the greatest as some shot seem a bit fuzzy.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
AUDIO \u2013 3.5\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\nEven though Fox does provide a 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, it\u2019s not the greatest sounding track I\u2019ve heard and when watching the extended version, it\u2019s also uneven. But even when watching the original version, I wasn\u2019t that impressed with various things from dialogue levels to ambient noises. Still, it\u2019s I suppose adequate enough, just nothing extraordinary.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
OVERALL \u2013 3.75\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\nOverall, this is yet another double-dip, the second on Blu-ray, offering the same content, including audio and video, as the 2009 release. Don\u2019t get me wrong, this is a wonderful movie, a favorite of mine since I saw it back in the 90s, but if you already own the other Blu-ray you can skip this release all together. However, if you haven\u2019t picked it up, now\u2019s a good enough time with a relatively low $20 SRP.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n
The Movieman
\n<\/i>Published: <\/b>12\/08\/2013<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This is yet another double-dip, the second on Blu-ray, offering the same content, including audio and video, as the 2009 release. Don\u2019t get me wrong, this is a wonderful movie, a favorite of mine. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[2514,1109,2516,2517,2515,8],"class_list":["post-6555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blurayreviews","tag-big","tag-elizabeth-perkins","tag-john-heard","tag-penny-marshall","tag-robert-loggia","tag-tom-hanks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6555"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6555\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27539,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6555\/revisions\/27539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.moviemansguide.com\/images\/main\/logos\/foxhe-sm.jpg\" "\\"Big:")
This is yet another double-dip, the second on Blu-ray, offering the same content, including audio and video, as the 2009 release. Don\u2019t get me wrong, this is a wonderful movie, a favorite of mine.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.moviemansguide.com\/images\/reviews\/2013\/big-bd.jpg\" "\\"Buy")
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