Hold your breath, cross your figlers, here we go!
Based on the book by Roald Dahl, orphan girl Sophie (Ruby Barnhill) is the only child who stays up to 3 AM. Sophie is then snatched up by an intruder giant and taken to Giant Country. Fearing for her life, Sophie attempts to escape, but fails. Thankfully though, her captor (Oscar-winner Mark Rylance) has no intention in eating her, and only brings her up there because "she saw him". But that doesn't mean the other giants are like that.
The look of the film is pretty darn fantastic, especially how London is portrayed. Feeling like a combination of Mary Poppins and the Harry Potter sections at Universal Orlando, the city is portrayed in a whimsical and very friendly way. Giant Country is well-crafted, even if it may seem more digital and less believable. One stand-out in particular is the "dreams" as well as the "dream tree", which are beautiful and creative touches. Robert Stromberg, who won Oscars for Alice in Wonderland and Avatar, lent his talents here to the design. Joanna Johnston's costumes and Janusz Kaminski's cinematography are nicely-done also.
The two leads are very engaging and really carry the film on their shoulders. Disney movies have had the tendency to cast new actors lately, and Barnhill is definitely a great find. She brings heart, sass, and a slightly mature sensibility to her character. The way she speaks and talks to others is memorable and interesting. Rylance, as an Oscar-winner, gives a great performance here in motion-capture. The facial expressions are surprisingly realistic, and Rylance really embraces the twisted-up speech that the giants have.
John Williams does the music, and provides a mixture of interesting tones to the film. This might not go down as one of his most memorable efforts, but it's still a heartwarming and nice score. The script approaches the film from a child's point-of-view, which in the case being from a children's book, really is a great approach.
On the downside, The BFG suffers from an oftentimes too slow pace. Especially in the first hour, this adventure lingers a little too long at times during scenes. It's almost to the point where the movie knocks on the door of boring. Now, taking time to develop your two main characters is a smart idea, but this movie could have been just as effective being trimmed down to 90 minutes, rather than almost 2 hours. I also felt like the villainous giants could be given a little more to do. We only hear about their possible exploits, but if we could have at least seen what they were doing, it would have made it easier to root against them.
Almost everyone knows by now that this is the first Steven Spielberg movie with fart jokes. And while funny and apparently in the book, you can tell in the film that the "whizpopping" was clearly out of Spielberg's comfort zone. More of a serious filmmaker, these jokes felt out-of-place within the film's innocuous and a bit more of a serious tone.
Many got excited when it was confirmed Steven Spielberg would be directing his first official movie for the Mouse House (the studio had released some of his movies in the past, but under the "Touchstone" banner). For me, seeing the Amblin logo after the Disney castle was a nerdy dream come true for your's truly.
And so, Spielberg's choice for Disney was directing this children's book adaptation. And in several ways, this collaboration does work well. Spielberg's sense for making child-centric stories comes through here in a sometimes similar way to E.T., with some heartfelt moments, two fantastic leads, and a truly terrific visual panache. Credit Melissa Mathison (who also wrote E.T., and this was her final script as she unfortunately passed away last November) for giving the film a sense of childlike innocence and wonder.
But, sad to admit this, The BFG doesn't quite pull together all the ingredients to become a classic. The script is often overlong and the pacing too slow. And while Spielberg deserves props for keeping the giants from being too scary for younger tykes, I wonder at times if he took a "too safe" approach, as the villains of the story (while creatively motion-captured by Bill Hader and Jermaine Clement) are little more than the stereotypical, forgettable antagonists you see in countless other children's movies.
Ultimately then, The BFG is a good, solid family movie. It's not top-tier Spielberg nor is it quite as magical as many of Disney's movies, but it's still reasonably charming, endearing, and whimsical.
Score: 7.5/10
Content Problems Families Should Be Aware Of:
Language: The BFG does come up with his own interjections, but none of which are profane. The Queen uses "bloody" once, but not in a profane context. The BFG is called a "runt" multiple times.
Adult Content: None, though a few dream jars are labeled "I is naked at work", "I is naked in a wedding", "I is naked at home". These are probably meant to be more embarrassing than anything though.
Violence: Nothing here is very scary, which should help parents with younger kids. Sensitive tykes might freak out at a brief nightmare sequence where Sophie is swallowed up by a giant. The BFG is thrown by his giant brethren like a football and runs down a hill with two cars on his feet to crash into another. A giant is hit in between his legs. Guns aim at The BFG (but don't shoot). Sophie is nearly grabbed a handful of times. We hear a quick story of another kid The BFG had but was eaten. We hear about other children disappearing also. The giants have threatening names such as "gizzard gulper", "meat muncher" and "blood bottler".
Drugs/Alcohol: We see a few people stumble through the streets of London, obviously drunk. The "Frobscottle" drink may or may not look like alcohol.
Other: A couple of scenes talk about how the "bubbles go down" on Frobscottle, and cause "whizpopping" (passing gas). This causes the BFG to briefly fly into the air, while in England later, some servants fly into the air as well (and the queen passes one under the table also). The giants bully the BFG, and mistreat him all the time.
