Distributed by

Cert:

Cat.no: 01658 DVD

Running time: 99 minutes

Year: 1988

Pressing: 2001

Region(s): 2, PAL

Chapters: 24 plus extras

Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0 (Dolby Surround)

Languages: English

Subtitles: 11 languages available

Widescreen: 1.85:1

16:9-Enhanced: Yes

Macrovision: Yes

Disc Format: DVD 5

Price: £15.99

Extras: Trailer

Director:

Penny Marshall (Awakenings, Big, Jumpin' Jack Flash, A League Of Their Own, The Preacher's Wife, Renaissance Man, Riding in Cars with Boys, TV: A League Of Their Own)

Producer:

James L. Brooks, Robert Greenhut and Juliet Taylor

Screenplay:

Gary Ross and Anne Spielberg

Music:

Howard Shore

Cast:

Josh Baskin: Tom Hanks
Susan: Elizabeth Perkins
MacMillan: Robert Loggia
Paul: John Heard
Billy: Jared Rushton
Young Josh: David Moscow
Scott Brenner: Jon Lovitz
Mrs Baskin: Mercedes Ruehl

Young Josh Baskin (David Moscow) visits the fair and tries his hand at a wishing machine, asks to be big. The machine tells him his wish has been granted. Great, so all he's got is a piece of printed card for his quarter... only he then discovers "Zoltar" was unplugged.

Next morning he wakes up as Tom Hanks, which presents all manner of comedic opportunities, all of them taken, from first seeing his new reflection in the mirror, trying to convince his best friend Billy (Jared Rushton) that he's the real deal, getting a job at MacMillan Toys because at his age he should know exactly what kids want to play with, playing Chopsticks on a floor-keyboard (aped by Homer in a later episode of The Simpsons and he also falls in love with colleague Susan (Elizabeth Perkins), but it's a love that can never be, as things turn out.

The cast also includes Robert Loggia as his boss MacMillan, Jon Lovitz as comedic colleague Scott, a much thinner John Heard as embittered colleague Paul and Mercedes Ruehl as Josh's mother.

Two can play at that game...

The film looks and sounds good, with a 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer and sound in Dolby Surround, giving clear dialogue and crisp sound FX where required, but why didn't anyone think to provide a DD5.1 remix? The average bitrate is 5.46b/s, often peaking over 7Mb/s.

The only extra is a 2½-minute 4:3 trailer that you'll watch once. There are 24 chapters to the film which is fine and subtitles in 11 languages: English for the hard of hearing, Czech, Danish, Finnish, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese and Swedish. Menus are static and silent.

FILM CONTENT PICTURE QUALITY SOUND QUALITY EXTRAS
OVERALL

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2001.