The BFG
The BFG
Directed by:
Steven SpielbergScreenplay:
Melissa MathisonCinematography:
Janusz KaminskiComposer:
John WilliamsCast:
Mark Rylance, Ruby Barnhill, Bill Hader, Penelope Wilton, Rebecca Hall, Jemaine Clement, Michael Adamthwaite, Adam Godley, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson (more)VOD (3)
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Disney's "The BFG" tells the imaginative story of a young girl and the Giant who introduces her to the wonders and perils of Giant Country. The BFG (Mark Rylance), while a giant himself, is a Big Friendly Giant and nothing like the other inhabitants of Giant Country. Standing 24-feet tall with enormous ears and a keen sense of smell, he is endearingly dim-witted and keeps to himself for the most part. Giants like Bloodbottler (Bill Hader) and Fleshlumpeater (Jemaine Clement) on the other hand, are twice as big and at least twice as scary and have been known to eat humans, while the BFG prefers Snozzcumber and Frobscottle. Upon her arrival in Giant Country, Sophie, a precocious 10-year-old girl from London, is initially frightened of the mysterious giant who has brought her to his cave, but soon comes to realize that the BFG is actually quite gentle and charming, and, having never met a giant before, has many questions. The BFG brings Sophie to Dream Country where he collects dreams and sends them to children, teaching her all about the magic and mystery of dreams. Having both been on their own in the world up until now, their affection for one another quickly grows, but Sophie's presence in Giant Country has attracted the unwanted attention of the other giants, who have become increasingly more bothersome. Sophie and the BFG soon depart for London to see the Queen (Penelope Wilton) and warn her of the precarious giant situation, but they must first convince the Queen and her maid, Mary (Rebecca Hall), that giants do indeed exist. Together, they come up with a plan to get rid of the giants once and for all. (Walt Disney US)
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Reviews (7)
A bit of a vegetarian agitprop. Spielberg decided to revive this project probably because of his weakness for Mark
Rylance’s acting charms. And because of the possibilities of WETA Digital, which he didn’t have in the 1980s. The BFG is a
magical trip into a child’s imagination with a soundtrack by John Williams, embellished by precise set designs and
emotionally filled with Rylance’s eyes and great motion capture of his movements. The poetic theme of dreams and the
concept of the land of giants are used well and the story is unpredictable. If it hadn’t been for those weird things that
start happening in the last third of the film, it would have been a worthy successor to Spielberg’s best fantasies.
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I'll admit, I didn't have high expectations for this Steven Spielberg film, but it simply turned out that he knows how to direct, and Roald Dahl wrote intriguing source material. The story is lovely, and imaginative, but the execution mainly relies on fantastic visuals, which were successful. There is little to fault with that. The characters are often almost unnecessary, the best being the BFG and Sophie, which is probably to be expected.
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A magical Disney fantasy movie about a girl who "still has a lot of dreams to catch" and a giant who can make those dreams - at least some of them - come true. Steven Spielberg has given The BFG with his trademark perfectionism, and although it is indeed primarily a film intended for children, adults will also find something to like in it if at least a little bit of a child remains in them. After all, the message of this rarely unhurried film is so universal... The two lead actors (Ruby Barnhill, who I hope we'll hear from again, and the digital Mark Rylance, whose digital form hasn't taken anything away from him) are terrific, the direction has plenty of ideas (the giant's hiding from humans, Sophie's hiding from ogres), the scenes are magnificent (dream catching), and the humor, unlike Hook, is perhaps not downright simple (not even in the case of the farting, which is very funny). John Williams' music, reminiscent of Home Alone in places, is once again perfect, this time adorned with beautiful flute solos. I'm just a little sorry that The BFG got to the movie theatres only with dubbing. It's not bad, but you can see that in the original version some of the emotional scenes will be even more emotional. And I'm saving the fifth star for that.
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A pleasant, beautifully shot visual treat with nothing wrong filmmaking-wise, but the whole thing flows so casually, freely and focused that everyone will be looking only for the flaws. Magical atmosphere, lovely cinematography and setting, irresistibly charismatic Mark Rylance.... Spielberg can create family stories around child heroes more engagingly than anyone ever.
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The movie didn't seem bad for the most part, but from the first scene with the Queen, I liked it less and less. From then on, it seemed to be aimed purely at a children’s audience, the dialogue and would-be funny scenes got infantile to the point that I didn't even want to wait and see how the story would end. I stuck it out and got the expected dose of poignant speeches and British army heroism. To sum it up, about 60% of the film was entertaining, the rest was terrible. The funniest character was definitely the Fleshlumpeater, the main antagonist, excellently voiced by Jemaine Clement.
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