Big
Plot
Josh Baskin would do anything to be big to hang out with his crush at the carnival. He finds a Zoltar machine, and he wishes to be big. After Zoltar tells him, "his wish is granted", Josh notices the machine is unplugged. He wakes up the next morning in an adult's body but he still has the same personality. With the help of his best friend, Billy, Josh learns how to act like a grown up. But as he gets a girlfriend and a fun job, he doesn't want to be a kid again. Will Josh stay big or become a 13 year old boy again?
Overall Series Review
Categorical Breakdown
The plot contains no reliance on race, intersectional hierarchy, or immutable characteristics to drive the narrative. Characters succeed or fail purely based on their merit, emotional state, and authenticity. There is no attempt to vilify 'whiteness' or forcibly insert diverse casting for political reasons. The focus is entirely on the universal contrast between childhood and adulthood.
There is a clear critique of a specific aspect of American culture: the cynicism, bureaucracy, and lack of creativity in the corporate adult world. However, this is balanced by the celebration of the American nuclear family structure (Josh's return home is a positive resolution) and the pure, non-cynical spirit of play associated with American childhood. The home culture is presented as a shield (the family) against the chaos (the corporate world), not fundamentally corrupt.
Susan Lawrence is depicted as a successful, ambitious female executive who is not a 'Mary Sue' but is emotionally unfulfilled by her career and her prior toxic relationship. Her character is drawn to Josh's innocence, suggesting career success is not the only source of fulfillment. The movie celebrates the idea of childhood and returning to the nuclear family unit, which works against an anti-natalist message. The score is only slightly raised due to the complicated nature of the romantic subplot between the adult woman and the child's mind, which has drawn modern criticism based on gendered power dynamics, even though the film itself is not lecturing on the subject.
The narrative centers entirely on a traditional male-female relationship, though it is one complicated by a magical age change. The movie does not center alternative sexualities, deconstruct the nuclear family, or engage with gender ideology. Sexuality remains private and a secondary element to the main plot about childhood innocence versus adult cynicism. The focus is strictly on normative structure.
The core magical mechanism, a Zoltar machine at a carnival, is secular fantasy, not a commentary on traditional religion. The film does not feature Christian characters as villains or bigots. The central message that innocence, honesty, and play are objectively good, and cynicism and ambition are bad, endorses a form of transcendent morality over moral relativism. The only spiritual element is the mysterious machine that grants the wish.