“Life is like a box of chocolates, you don’t know what you’re gonna get”. A line uttered in the very first scene of 1994’s Forrest Gump, starring Tom Hanks. It’s a line that has gone on to be one of the most famous film lines in modern film history, and most often quoted.

You can expect to hear a lot more of it once again, as Robert Zemickis’ film is re-released in cinemas, with a 4K restoration, celebrating its 30th anniversary.

Sitting at a bench, waiting for a bus, is Forrest Gump. As a woman comes to sit next to him, he begins to tell his life story. It’s a remarkable tale, which sees him overcome wearing braces as a small child, to go on to become famous for running. Along the way he became a college football star, a war hero in Vietnam, and be one hell of a ping pong player.

But as all who sit with him soon learn, at the heart of it all is his love for his childhood sweetheart Jenny (Robin Wright), but it was to be a relationship that never quite happened.

On the surface, Forrest Gump is the perfect slice of Americana, an ode to the feel good films of the forties, such as Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life.

But on closer inspection, it has many darker tones that include abuse towards women, racism and war, as well as a number of assassination attempts, making it fairly topical too.

It’s also told from an unusual perspective, that of a man with a lowly IQ, considered slow. It’s a role that Hanks nails from the off, working hard as he does, appearing in nearly every frame of film over its 2 hours and 22 minutes duration. He looks so fresh-faced throughout, indicating he’s fairly early into his career, but in actual fact it was his twentieth feature, with the likes of Splash, The Money Pit, Big, Turner & Hooch, Sleepless in Seattle and

Philadelphia all behind him, and earning him his second Oscar for Best Actor.

And although it’s very much a performance based film, Zemeckis also threw some cutting edge CGI into the mix, that saw Gump feature in some old stock footage in the company of various presidents.

It also holds up very well for its age, which isn’t surprising because at its heart is a love story, and a fairly unconventional one for Hollywood too, that doesn’t really go in for the traditional happy ending.

Perhaps one criticism levelled at it could be that it does feel overly long in places, with one or two pacing issues, that could have possibly benefitted from some cutthroat editing. But considering its place in modern film history, which is in the upper tier for sure, it can be forgiven for being a tad self indulgent.

It’s still remarkably quirky and Hanks is almost criminally endearing in the lead role, meaning the film hasn’t lost any of its charm or magic, as it remains a true modern classic.