The BFG, Spielberg’s best (children’s) film since E.T.

In April I attended Disney Social Media Moms at Walt Disney World. One of the things that they gave attendees was a copy of Roald Dahl’s book, The BFG. I had never read it and picked it up one night when I was bored and it absolutely blew me away. It’s a fabulous book for older elementary school kids to read or a great one for parents to read to ages 5 and up. We were provided with the book because the movie version of The BFG is now a big movie directed by Steven Spielberg. The book is a classic and one of the most imaginative ones that we’ve ever read-the film couldn’t possibly stand up to those expectations, could it?

Well, yes and no. The film adaptation of The BFG adheres very closely to the book and fits snuggly within the PG rating. That’s a bit surprising because one of the underlying premises of the book is a land of giants that eat people. While I was reading the book I wondered how they could match that part of the story to a film that wouldn’t scare the pants off of young children.

Well, they do. Our 6 year old is quite the movie wimp and he loved the film. It did have a couple of scary moments, but they were brief and managed to bring in suspense and adventure into those scenes that helped him not turn away.

Overall the film is a superb journey into the land of the giants, London and in-between.  As some of the film’s main characters are giants there are CGI shots in almost every scene. However, they’re so well done you will believe that a giant has a little girl in his pocket and is surrounded by much larger giants who bully him around. The special effects are grand and capture the scale and size of the contrasting world’s characters to such a degree that you’ll all but call a travel agent to go there after the film.

The first quarter of the film doesn’t feature too much dialogue.  It allows the film room to breathe and does not feel slow or allow the audience to look around. Part of that is due to the soundtrack by John Williams. While he’s not technically an actor in the film, audiences need to know that he’s a big reason that the film is as enjoyable as it is.

The actors in the film, even the motion capture giants are all above par. It’s a true accomplishment how Spielberg manages to find children who can be capture the wonder of being a child without being coy or cutesy.  Sophie, played by Ruby Barnhill is really a treasure as she portrays a young orphan whisked away to a magical world ten minutes after the film starts.

As a family film The BFG is perfect. It’s rated PG and is utterly flawless in the manner that it captures Roald Dahl’s classic book. Once you read it you’ll understand why it was his favorite. We saw kids as young as 5 who enjoyed the film and the adults in the audience enjoyed it as much.

However, if you’ve read the book you know how the giants speak. It’s not as annoying as Jar-Jar Binks, but not exactly charming either. Some folks will tire quickly of the giant’s pronunciation ‘human beans’ and other phrases for example.  There are also a couple slow spots in the film and a couple scenes that seem just a tad too long. Am I nitpicking? Possibly, don’t get me wrong, The BFG is a wonderful film whose caliber is one that we don’t see often.

Audiences who don’t see it with a child might find it just a bit too slow. We enjoyed it that much because part of it was seeing it with our child. I’d look over and see their face, them enjoying it and wanting to hop into that 6 year old mind to discover things for the first time. The BFG does that for anyone that lets them in, but I suspect that the teenagers and some adults might find the film too slow.

As a film and film adaptation it is marvelous. As a summer film it’s not the fun, edge of your seat experience that some may be looking for. Is The BFG a big budget art house film for families? That’s too big of a qualifier. It is a great movie that will stand the test of time and I hope that it finds the audience that it deserves. The film also comes from amazing source material, one that adheres to the old adage that the book is better than the movie-and it is. A very good book begets a movie that’s almost as good as the book, in a movie world where most films vary wildly it’s one to be applauded and seen.