Big - Extended Edition (2-DVDs)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: B- Film: B-
Many
forget that Tom Hanks got his first Academy Award nomination for Big, Penny Marshall’s entertaining
surprise hit of 1988. The story is about
a young boy tired of his height and belittlement who makes a wish and wakes up
as an adult. Then he has to figure out
what happened, get used to his adult body and spends the rest of the film
trying to reverse the process.
Though
somewhat formulaic, the film still has its charms and moments as Marshall
learned how to direct, no doubt helped out by her years of being on the set of
several hit shows (all filmed) by her brother Gary. What was interesting this time out was the
supporting cast including Robert Logia, Mercedes Rueul, Elizabeth Perkins and
John Heard. Helping this film is their
performances and everyone playing this seriously and intelligently. If done today, it would be done too jokingly,
hacked together and without any heart or soul whatsoever. It is attention to the detail of human
interaction that keeps the film from dating and that is why it is one of the
best children fantasy films of the 1980s.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 image is not bad but shows grain that makes
one wonder if this is a cleaned analog master instead of an HD one. Barry Sonnenfeld was still a great
cinematographer at the time before he defected to directing in a way that has
not worked out as well. His work here is
key to making the film work with vividly clear shots this DVD does not
deliver. I have seen this in 35mm and
know better.
The Dolby
Digital 2.0 mix represents a rough equivalent of the old analog Dolby A-type
mix but cannot hide the age of the sound overall. Even Howard Shore’s effective score is not as
clear as it should be, especially for a recording of the time.
Extras include
a longer version of the film that is not that different, but a nice change of
pace, plus a Gary Ross/Anne Spielberg audio documentary on DVD 1, while DVD 2
offers theatrical trailers & TV spots, four featurettes on the film, the
fine AMC Network Backstory episode
on the film and ten deleted scenes with optional commentary by Marshall. All in all, a nice set.
- Nicholas Sheffo
