Tom Hanks Makes an Excellent Overgrown Kid in Big

Several years ago, I saw 13 Going on 30, the Jennifer Garner romantic comedy about a teen who wishes her way into a life 17 years in the future, at which point she has everything she thought she wanted and is miserable. Hearing about the movie beforehand, I thought it sounded largely like a knockoff of Big, the whimsical Penny Marshall movie I recently re-watched. I wouldn’t really say that anymore, but one thing they most definitely have in common is an adult star putting in a winning performance as a 13-year-old in unfamiliar skin.

In the case of Big, it’s Tom Hanks who suddenly finds himself in adult shoes, but he’s not catapulted into a future of his own creation. Instead, the morning after a humiliating carnival experience leads him to ask the Zoltar wish-granting machine to make him big, he awakes in his own room with a very different body and must try to figure out how to explain this sudden growth spurt to his mother and best friend. His traumatized mom doesn’t buy it, but his buddy, the more world-wise Billy (Jared Rushton), eventually does. With his help, he heads for the city to rent an apartment and get a job to make ends meet until he can figure out how to undo his wish.

Hanks brings both vulnerability and exuberance to the role of Josh, who is such a fish out of water, at least at first. At times, he seems almost too youthful for his 12-year-old self, but there’s an extra dose of incredulity at play because he is seeing everything from such a fresh perspective. On the other end of things, he settles into his new data entry job at a toy company very quickly, without even really needing to be told what to do. However, he soon lands a new position for which his youthful outlook makes him unusually qualified. What kid wouldn’t love a job that essentially requires testing out toys all day? The scene in which he lands this promotion is pure joy as he and his genial boss (Robert Loggia) show all of the customers in the super-sized toy store what fun it is to play, regardless of age.

The most fun parts of the movie are those that similarly allow Josh freedom to be a kid in his adult body. When his raise lets him relocate from a seedy hotel to a lavish apartment – a little unrealistically lavish, I think, considering how long he has been working, but then this film is fully fantastical – he turns it into the ultimate G-rated bachelor pad. Watching him in this environment is a blast, and it’s fun to survey the expansive space and see the quirky way in which he has chosen to furnish his new home. It’s also amusing to see how his frank insights frustrate his co-workers, who are used to analyzing everything to death.

However, there is a bittersweet edge to the story as he begins to adjust to the adult world and slowly he becomes more grown up than Billy. Rushton is convincing as a boy who is willing to accept his friend’s strange circumstances but never expects them to be permanent. He’s particularly effective as he conveys Billy’s hurt feelings as Josh begins to move more fully into the adult world. Now that Josh has gotten his wish, will he even want to go back to the way things were? Is being “big” all it’s cracked up to be? And how much longer will Billy have to shoulder the burden of the truth alone while Josh’s distraught parents wonder when their son will return?

I love Loggia in the role of the paternal boss who finds Josh’s outlook so refreshing, and Hanks and Rushton are great together. It’s easy to forget that they aren’t really the same age; they really do just seem like two schoolyard chums. While romance was central to 13 Going on 30, it’s more of a side plot here as Josh becomes involved with Susan (Elizabeth Perkins), a coworker entranced by his unaffected manner. This storyline is sweet in one way but uncomfortable in another, since we know that Josh is really psychologically in early adolescence. The movie strongly implies a level of intimacy between them that made me squirm; Susan has no idea that Josh isn’t exactly the 30-year-old he appears to be, so it’s not like she’s intentionally seducing a junior high schooler, but it just feels a bit icky to me. I would have preferred if they hadn’t let it progress that far, but then that action is a major catalyst for Josh’s behavior later in the movie.

Ultimately, while 13 Going on 30 is mostly about appreciating the people who truly care about you and maintaining your integrity, Big is about savoring your childhood and not being too eager to jump into the privileges of adulthood, which come with an equal share of pressures. As a romance, it fizzles a bit for me, but as a reflection on retaining the joy of childhood, I’d say it’s right on target.

Dickens Goes to the Dogs in Oliver and Company

When I was seven years old, the movie Oliver and Company hit the theaters. I immediately declared myself a big fan. I hung a large poster on the wall of my bedroom. I placed a finger puppet version of Oliver in the hot air balloon I had suspended over my bed so I saw him whenever I looked up. I bought the picture book adaptation from the Scholastic Book Club. But I never actually saw the movie. I'm not sure how that happened, as just about every other Disney movie that came out when I was a kid merited a trip to the theater, especially if it was animated. But I never got around to this one, and for some reason, I never rented it either. I finally got to see what I was missing this week when I rented it from Netflix.

Oliver and Company is an extremely loose adaptation of Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist. Instead of 19th-century London, it takes place in 1980s New York City. Little orphan Oliver (Joey Lawrence) is an orange kitten who strikes out on his own after his siblings are plucked from a street-corner box. The Artful Dodger is just plain Dodger (Billy Joel), a super-cool mutt who, after a rocky introduction, takes Oliver under his wing. Fagin (Dom DeLuise) looks pretty rough around the edges, but this human leader of Dodger's ragtag canine gang has a heart of gold, which I expected as soon as I heard DeLuise's voice. I always felt sorry for Fagin despite his villainous traits, but this Fagin is much more victim than villain and even has a heroic moment late in the film. The true villain is Sykes (Robert Loggia), to whom Fagin must deliver a hefty chunk of cash - or else.

Oliver's benefactor in this movie is Jenny (Natalie Gregory), a rich, lonely girl whose parents are often away on business. She lives under the supervision of jovial butler Winston (William Glover) and shares a home with pampered show poodle Georgette (Bette Midler). When Jenny happens upon Oliver, she is ecstatic, and Oliver, though he enjoys the company of Dodger's posse - dopey Einstein (Richard Mulligan), feisty Tito (Cheech Marin), regal Francis (Roscoe Lee Browne) and maternal Rita (Sheryl Lee Ralph) - couldn't be happier to have the home he always wanted. So he's not too pleased when they "rescue" him just as he's settling in and even less tickled to find himself being used as a bargaining chip to get Fagin out of debt.

This is a fun movie full of peppy songs and funny zingers, mostly from Dodger and his fellow dogs. I was a little disappointed to discover that Billy Joel had not written the music; it was his name I most associated with the movie, and I thought his role in it was slightly larger. Still, he does get the big show-stopping musical number, Why Should I Worry?, which bears a certain resemblance to Aladdin's One Jump Ahead. (It also includes the line "I got street savoir-faire," which my mom mis-heard as "I got fleas in my hair." Which no doubt was true as well!)

The other big number is Once Upon a Time in New York City, the opening song performed by Huey Lewis that firmly establishes the setting. This movie never lets us forget where we are, whether we're gazing up at the Twin Towers or joining Jenny and Oliver for an idyllic carriage ride through Central Park. Jenny does get her own song too, the very sweet and quiet Good Company, while Georgette's braggy Perfect Isn't Easy is amusingly over-the-top.

Just before the conclusion, there's one very dark moment involving Sykes, and there are slightly racy undertones with the way Tito and Georgette interact with one another. For the most part, however, this is a very sanitized version of the Dickens classic. The backgrounds have a somewhat flat quality to them, but they still are effective in capturing the hustle and bustle of the Big Apple. I confess it didn't hold my attention quite as much as I thought it might; I would say it's not quite up there with Lady and the Tramp or 101 Dalmatians. But for a lover of Disney, Dickens or dogs, Oliver and Company is a worthwhile movie to watch.