The BFG – movie review

Roald Dahl, Steven Spielberg and Disney unite for the first time to bring one of the author’s classic works to life on the big screen. The BFG tells the imaginative story of a young girl and the giant who introduces her to the wonders and perils of Giant Country.

In the middle of the night, when every child and every grown-up is in a deep, deep sleep, all the dark things come out from hiding and have the world to themselves. That’s what Sophie, a precocious 10-year-old, has been told and that’s what she believes as she lies sleepless in her own bed at her London orphanage. While all the other girls in the dormitory dream their dreams, Sophie risks breaking one of many rules to climb out of her bed, slip on her glasses, lean out the window and see what the world looks like in the moonlit silence of the witching hour. Outside, in the ghostly, silvery light, her familiar street looks more like a fairy tale village than the one she knows and out of the darkness comes something long and tall … very, very, tall.

That something is a giant who takes Sophie and whisks her away to his home in a land far, far away. Fortunately for Sophie, he is the big friendly giant and nothing like the other inhabitants of Giant Country. Standing eight metres tall with enormous ears and a keen sense of smell, the BFG is endearingly dim-witted and keeps to himself for the most part. His fellow giants are twice as big (ranging in height from 13 metres to 18 metres tall) and at least twice as scary, and have been known to eat humans, but the BFG is a vegetarian and makes do with a disgusting vegetable called Snozzcumber. Nevertheless, it soon becomes clear that Sophie’s presence is threatened by these other giants, so she hatches a plan that involves the Queen no less.

The film stars Academy Award winner Mark Rylance as the Big Friendly Giant and newcomer Ruby Barnhill as Sophie, the orphan who befriends him and is swept into the world of rampaging giants. Penelope Wilton is the Queen; Jemaine Clement is Fleshlumpeater, the most fearsome giant from Giant Country; and Rebecca Hall is Mary, the Queen’s handmaid.  Rafe Spall is cast as Mr. Tibbs, the Queen’s butler, while Bill Hader is Bloodbottler, another unruly giant from Giant Country.

Steven Spielberg has reunited with his Oscar-nominated collaborator on E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, Melissa Mathison, who adapted Roald Dahl’s timeless adventure for the big screen. Dahl’s The BFG was first published in 1982, the same year Spielberg’s own story about an unusual and transformative friendship, ET, captured the hearts and imaginations of children and adults alike. The British author is one of the world’s most creative, mischievous and successful storytellers, someone who understands the inner lives of children and has a knack for creating characters that kids can relate to and storylines that keep them involved.

His ability to combine the fantastical with the frightening and place children as the heroes of his innovative stories, and adults as the villains, is unrivaled in the literary world. While Dahl’s stories recognise that life can be difficult and sometimes scary, that there is good with the bad, he never patronises his readers. The BFG is the story of the two lonely souls who, in finding one another, create their own home in the world. It was Roald Dahl’s favorite of all his works. Dahl originally created it as a bedtime story, and the character Sophie was named after his granddaughter. 2016 marks the 100th anniversary of Dahl’s birth.

The BFG, the movie, is creative and fun and fanciful. One thing you can say about the character of the BFG is that he likes a green drink with bubbles, but unlike our fizzy drinks in which the bubbles head skyward, the BFG’s concoction sees aeration travelling the other way … and it produces plenty of wind. The zenith of that particular predilection comes in the third act, where most of the funniest moments in the film are positioned (I could have done with a few more belly laughs earlier in the piece as well). That is when Sophie decides to throw caution to the wind (pardon the pun) and introduce the BFG to royalty. Earlier it is establishing her credentials, so to speak, with the friendly giant after he snatches her from her orphanage and the pair of them win each other’s trust. Then it is facing up to the bullyboy tactics of the larger and more menacing giants.

Motion capture technology has come such a long way that it is now difficult to separate a computer generated and animated character from a living, breathing human being. Mark Rylance steps into the giant’s considerable shoes and makes them his own in no time – his eccentricities, his slightly awkward character traits and decidedly left of centre speech pattern giving him quite an endearing quality. Ruby Barnhill is a real find as the fearless youngster, who stands up for what she believes in and won’t fathom nonsense or intimidation. It took the filmmakers six months of searching and screen testing literally thousands of girls before they discovered her and she nails the role.

While perhaps a tad long, there is much to enjoy about Spielberg’s latest foray into family entertainment. Rated PG, The BFG scores a 7 to 7½ out of 10.

Director: Steven Spielberg
Cast: Rebecca Hall, Ruby Barnhill, Mark Rylance, Bill Hader, Jemaine Clement
Release Date: 30 June 2016
Rating: PG – Some scenes may frighten young children

Alex First