Film Exactly what it promised
Roald Dahl is known for the wildly successful story of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and the equally successful (but less well known) Matilda, but the fact is that Dahl was vastly displeased with the version featuring Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka and not really happy with how Matilda turned out either. Well, I think it’s safe to say that he would not have nearly as much trouble with this surprisingly faithful adaptation to his other best seller, The BFG.
The BFG actually follows the story of the original novel very closely. There are a few additions that don’t do much to improve the story, but it does pad out the film without it causing any harm either. Most of the scenes and dialog in this movie are lifted directly from the book and transferred well onto the screen.
Speaking of being on the screen, all the characters are spot-on perfection in their looks. All the giants look great, the BFG looks great, Sophie looks great, they even managed to get the look of the Queen of England to be a good blend of Roald Dahl’s original drawing and the actual Queen Elizabeth. Sophie’s personality was altered a little bit to be more of a strong-willed protagonist, and the BFG himself is actually well acted in both voice and animation. The villains are kind of one dimensional, but the film is following the classic portrayal of Giants and they’re actually given plenty of screen time to even this out.
There are nitpicky things that could have been improved. The story dragged at several places and moved a little slow, but went too fast at the parts that I would have loved to see more. The CGI for the giants isn’t the best, and it’s most noticeable in the climax of the film, but it’s at least passable and it managed to capture the look and imagination that came from the original story. The humor is rather lacking, though to be fair a lot of the jokes are directly from the book. The darker elements and concepts of the book have been downsized for a more lighthearted fantasy. Last but not least, the 3D is woefully underutilized. Being in a world of Giants meant that the people behind the 3D and CGI work could have had a field day of making the world seem, well, gigantic to the eyes of the viewer. But save for a few key scenes, they went with very average cinematography and staging so the 3D was a total waste of money.
This movie is not a groundbreaking masterpiece, but it was never intended to be one. It was described as a whimsical adventure full of fantasy and wonder, displaying a world of imagination and heart that only the combined talents of Roald Dahl and Stephen Spielberg could have given us. And it delivers exactly that. It could have been a little better, but it could have been far, far worse. I can see this movie quickly becoming a cult classic right next to the original Chocolate Factory film and Matilda.
Solid 8/10, I recommend going to see it.
Film Sweet and simple.
This film was one I was very interested in, since any Dahl adaptation is worth a look, and I wanted to know how this one fared.
In terms of spirit, I think it's got it pretty much down. There's a definite sense of magic and wonder to even the mundane scenes, and the visuals are just amazing. It's a very colorful film, which is always welcome these days, and the effects are pretty nice. There are also some brilliant elaborations on the magical concepts in the book. My favorite concept is probably the visualization of the dreams, which are amorphous but briefly take on images of their contents. To this effect, the design of the BFG's horn is also very clever to provide a more whimsical aspect to the dream-blowing process.
The story does make some changes, however, and some of them are good. Sophie feels like a much stronger, more developed character, but in some places, I find this makes her relationship with the BFG less tender and sweet than it should be. There are a couple of action sequences which are actually really nice and relatively low-key, because the heroes only use really inventive stealth (also featured in the human world on dream jobs) and it's not intrusive. However, a couple of scenes feel a bit like padding. There's some backstory to the BFG, which is nice, but at the same time, also makes their relationship a bit rockier. I do love the overall quiet tone to the movie; it's more about the characters and the actual situation than what really happens within those. The comedy at the palace exemplifies this calmer mood and the atmosphere. It feels like it's really trying to be its own thing, but there are still quota-ish hallmarks of a traditional story that jar a little with it despite their expedience at getting them checked off the list. Go on, guys. You do you.
In all, it's a charming film that's visually inventive and beautiful. It's relatively inoffensive and likely not to be seen as one of the great Dahl movies, but it's a nice watch.