Tom Hanks, who needs no incitement to act immature, is here given carte blanche: a runty twelve-year-old, towered over by the cute blonde in his class, makes a wish to be "big" and has it granted overnight by a coin-operated fairground wizard. (Technically, he not only gets bigger, but older as well — but why quibble?) After this pole-vault of fantasy, the movie settles down to explore the logic of the situation (with its Kaspar Hauser-type socialization problems). It doesn't, though, explore this too far or too logically. Everything happens a little easily for the hero, and his swift rise to an executive post at a toy company (with Elizabeth Perkins as a perk) gives him little reason to wax nostalgic over Lost Youth. But there are some charming moments (like the tap-dance of two grown men on an oversized electric keyboard at FAO Schwartz), and the humor is never aggressive, never abrasive. With Robert Loggia and John Heard; directed by Penny Marshall. (1988) — Duncan Shepherd
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