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13 Going on 30Yes, it's Big in drag, following the exploits of a small kid mystically trapped in a grown-up body. Cue the cute misunderstandings, wisdom from the mouths of babes, and everyone going home bathed in a warm nostalgic glow - or so director Gary Winick hopes.
Jennifer Garner steps into the Tom Hanks role as Jenna Rink. As a 13-year-old, played by Christa B Allen, Jenna's birthday party turns out to be horribly embarrassing, despite the best efforts of her geeky best friend and neighbour Matt (Marquette). In fact it's so bad, she wishes she was a grown-up.
With a sprinkling of some fairy dust (don't ask), the next thing she knows, she's a 30-year-old high-powered New York editor running fashion magazine 'Poise'. The job's everything she could want - she's rich, independent, has a sports star boyfriend, a great boss (Sirkis, the man behind Gollum in The Lord Of The Rings films), and the cool kid who always hated her in high-school is now her best friend (Greer). But is she really happy?
Well, no. She misses her old life, and particularly her old buddy Matt. So she tracks him down only to discover that the adult version (now played by Ruffalo) is about to get married. Can Jenna win him back, or will she find out that being a grown-up means letting go of what you want most?
It's that careful balancing act of yearning and naivety that Big pulled off so well which 13 Going On 30 fails to achieve. That's despite the valiant efforts of its charismatic star, Jennifer Garner.
While there are stand-out moments - like Garner leading a room full of snooty New York fashionistas in a dance routine from Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' - there are also moments when the script is so disingenuous that you wonder why her co-workers don't have this barking girl-child promptly sectioned.
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