The BFG Movie Review - Spielberg's Spectactacle Motion-y Pictum

Roald Dahl's classic children's novel was published in 1982 and is considered by many to be one of his genuine classics, so why on earth it took this long for a movie to get produced is beyond me. Granted, there was a straight-to-video animated release in the 80s, but never a full-on Hollywood production, despite Matilda and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory already having received their own productions. That being said, though, I guess we should be thankful that we got the smooth, well-constructed production that we have here as opposed to a rushed out production with little to no effort (LOOKING AT YOU, LAST AIRBENDER!). Yup, I said it; this adaptation, while not perfect by any means, is a genuine fantasy tale that lives up to its source material's potential.

The story, for those not familiar, involves a little girl named Sophie, who gets kidnapped by a giant wandering through the streets of London. The giant, later on known as the Big Friendly Giant or BFG for short, lets her know that he's not intending to eat her the way that many of the other giants in their Giant Country would. Rather, the BFG catches dreams, little firefly-like spectacles that pop into people's heads and give them wondrous and/or horrifying experiences. Sophie assists the BFG with this job, but the more she hangs around with him, the more dangerous their situation becomes, as the giants start to piece it together that there's a "human bean" among them. As the stakes start to raise, Sophie and the BFG try to develop a plan to get rid of the other giants for good.

As you can gather by that description, the film is as simplistic and fairy-tale-ish as the book. It doesn't try to be as grand in scale as Tim Burton's take on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; it focuses on what it needs to get across and develops it rather smoothly. It may not have been all that memorable in that case if it weren't for two key factors that truly make the film work.

The first being Spielberg as the director. His ability to visually tell the story rather than rely on narration or exposition make for a good book-to-film translation. This is a gift that's been evident in a lot of his films before, and it allows for a lot of beautiful, but also meaningful, imagery as well. If you're not a fan of his over-the-top whimsical moments like in Hook, this probably won't change your mind on that, but for me, I thought it worked great and gave the film an enchanting, fascinating atmosphere.

The other factor is the performances, particularly Mark Rylance as the BFG. He gives a very earnest performance that give the film a lot of genuine heart. I'm not the biggest fan of motion capture animation, but when you can see his expression, you can tell he really is the Big Friendly Giant. Ruby Barnhill gets across Sophie's curious nature and stubborn bravery, as well as her genuinely terrified moments, though any haters of child actors might not turn their heads to this rapscallion. As for the man-eating giants.... They're hilarious! There's one scene where it starts to rain on them, and I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard at a scene before that one!

On the whole, The BFG isn't the most memorable, epic experience imaginable, but if you go in knowing it's a Spielberg whimsfest based off of a very simplistic fairy tale, then you'll get the best version of that; a whimsical, simplistic fairy tale with Spielberg's visual storytelling capabilities and some superb performances. If that sounds like your shtick, definitely check it out!

My rating: