The BFG - Movie Review!

Who's In It?

Jemaine Clement, Ruby Barnhill, and Mark Rylance

What's It About?

Sophie is an orphan who's kidnapped by a giant at the witching hour of 3 o' clock, and discovers that not all giants are child eating brutes.

Any Good?

The trailers looked very dark for children, but it was Steven Spielberg so I kind of just assumed it was his style - and I was pleasantly surprised.

I absolutely loved some of the CGI in this, while it does try a little too hard to be Harry Potter in some of the scenes (including an odd, almost cheap, knock-off style HP song) but what really stood out to me was the dreams; bright and vibrant wisps that formed almost Zoetrope-style animations.

They have Zoetropes in Disneyland Paris!

The BFG himself was almost perfect, even his subtle lip twitches and eye movements were mapped really well, but his voice was incredible. The entire film I was repeating to myself to remember to Google it, and it was none other than the winner of last years Best Supporting Actor Oscar - Mark Rylance!

The actress for Sophie was good, especially considering her script seemed to be written to be as annoying as possible. In one scene her character asks about 4 questions in a row and starts EVERY SINGLE ONE with "Hey BFG". She was impressive for her age, even with the bar set by Neel Sethi of The Jungle Book.

Images really don't do the animation justice

The BFG was fairly new to me, when I was of age to read Roald Dahl books myself I was reading things like Goosebumps or The Hobbit (explains a fair bit tbf); so to me it was a bit all over the place for the first 3/4. The last quarter with the Queen however reminded me a lot of King Edward from MacBeth, and the idea he was God (thanks A2 in Leaving Cert English!). 

Overall the BFG was enjoyable - it was a little dark and Spielberg which made the story a bit odd, but the visuals were beautiful. Honestly I'd probably wait to see this in HD or on Blu-Ray just to see the animation and dreams in a more vibrant resolution. 

Rating: