Review of The BFG (2016) by Sidney G — 21 Aug 2016

I have been a fan of movies based on the books of Roland Dahl since I was a kid, they have always been weird & a little disjointed at times, but never bad. I'm happy to report, that 'The BFG' carries that tradition on.

The story is simple: girl-meets-giant, girl-&-giant-learn-about-eachother, girl-&-giant-make-history. The overall flow is a bit quick, like blink-&-miss-much quick, but if you pay attention, it's easy to follow.

The effects are unbelievable, all of the giants look real, a couple have personality, & none of them felt like lifeless CG effects; they had weight while moving through their environment, & speaking of that: giant country was a character unto itself! The sculpted but natural-feeling landscape, the miner background details that showed how the giants needed to pilfer from humans to survive, & the overall depiction of giant country as some sort of pocket-dimension, was well appreciated.

The BFG himself was a simple, but not stupid, fella, who brings to mind the idea of a kind but slightly curmudgeonly old neighbor whom has many interesting stories to tell....when he can remember them.

The giant leader was really just a simple-minded brute, but I think he fancied himself as an evil mastermind. He was entertaining, but he wasn't as threatening as he could've been.

The others giants were...there. They all looked unique, but it would've been nice to get to know each of them better.

The human characters did very well. The little girl was likable from the start. She was smart, didn't take any guff from anyone, & gave the impression that you could count on her to have your back; like a classic superhero side-kick.

The adult characters were ok, some were depicting real people, & I think everyone did an ok job; although each one had this look on their face that seemed to say: "IS THIS REALLY HAPPENING?!?!?!".

The overall tone of the film had to do with the nature of dreams. The idea was that dreams were at least semi-sentient, & sought people out; it was kind've an interesting concept, along with the idea that the dimensions of humans, giants, & dreams, had a sort of symbiotic relationship.

3.75 stars out've 5, this film really honors Mr. Dahl's work, & it deserves it's place among the Dahl-inspired films as possibly the best one yet.