So, The BFG has FINALLY made it to UK movie screens, just in time for the school summer holidays! But we still have to wait another week for Finding Dory to come out! 😞
PRE-MOVIE THOUGHTS: I have a confession to make… I’ve never actually read The BFG. As a child, I was a big fan of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (who wasn’t?!), Fantastic Mr Fox and other Roald Dahl books, but BFG escaped me. I also missed the 1989 animated movie, but it didn’t look like anything I particularly wanted to see. I remember after that there was a BFG comic strip which appeared in a UK newspaper, drawn in the style of the animated movie, and it was the most boring uninteresting comic I’ve ever read. So that kind of put me off BFG in a big way from then on.
And then I saw the early trailers for this version of BFG. It looked like a wonderful family movie, and it was from Steven Spielberg. So it had to be good – right?
POST MOVIE REVIEW: It doesn’t take long before we’re introduced to The BFG, who whisks Sophie off to giant country after she spots him out and about in the dead of night. The story meanders along, and is pleasant enough for a while, without really going anywhere. The motion capture work in creating The BFG is spectacular and Mark Rylance really brings the character to life. The introduction of the not so friendly giants livens things up and introduces threat and humour to the story, but it’s not until Sophie and The BFG enlist the help of the Queen that things get really wacky and interesting. Some good fart humour had all the kids watching the movie in stitches (me too 😀) and the short but sweet battle with the big unfriendly giants ends the movie nicely. Not quite as good as I’d hoped from Spielberg but still an entertaining family movie. My 11 year old daughter gave it 3.5 stars 👍
Web developer by day, with a movie and TV watchlist that continues to grow as much as my spare time reduces! My favourite movie is Inception and, despite what everyone says, I do not have a man-crush on Tom Cruise.
