Skip to main content

The BFG -- a review


The BFG was never on my radar because it was a children’s film, and I usually avoid seeing them whenever I can. While there are some great children’s movies out there for all ages--The Wizard of Oz immediately comes to mind, as well as the Harry Potter films--I thought that for the most part children’s films can be pretty lackluster and tedious for adults. The fact that Steven Spielberg directed The BFG wasn’t even a selling point for me. Spielberg may be one of the greatest film directors of his--or any--generation, but he does have a tendency to get very sappy and schmaltzy when helming movies aimed at the wee ones.


So how did I finally wind up watching The BFG? It was on Netflix. There I was, looking for something to watch on a Saturday night, and there was The BFG, one of the latest arrivals to Netflix’s schedule. I put it on, and unexpectedly found myself enchanted by a seemingly simple story (but filled with greater resonance) about a girl and her giant. Ruby Barnhill is very good as Sophie, a young London girl who lives in an orphanage who inadvertently comes across a giant (played in a CG-ed performance by Mark Rylance) that’s roaming the streets late at night.



The giant wanders the streets using ingenious methods to hide himself from the population, so when it becomes clear that Sophie has seen him, he decides to abduct her from the orphanage. It’s scary at first, with Sophie frightened that she will become his lunch. But the giant turns out to be a gentle soul who literally collects dreams and keeps their essence--as glowing, fairy-like orbs--in carefully marked glass jars. But Sophie quickly realizes that this Big, Friendly Giant (BFG) of hers isn’t the only giant around, and the other giants are even bigger and very mean and nasty.


Based on the book by Roald Dahl (Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory), with a screenplay by the late Melissa Mathison (the writer of Spielberg’s earlier hit, ET, who passed away during production; The BFG is dedicated to her), The BFG is a perfect blend of childhood whimsy and splendid eye candy that will wow all of the members in your family. Sadly, this movie was a bomb at the box office, but hopefully, thanks to home video and venues like Netflix, The BFG will find the family audience it deserves. And I promise not to hold any prejudiced notions about children’s films from now on. --SF


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Jack Reacher Never Go Back -- a Review

I was first introduced to Jack Reacher through the Tom Cruise movie of the same name that was released back in 2012. I liked the movie well enough, despite a few nitpicks here and there--but I really enjoyed reading the novels by Lee Child. Jack Reacher was a former US Army officer who retires and becomes a drifter, roaming from state to state in the country that he fought so hard to protect. And Reacher is still protecting us, taking on a variety of villains, from backwoods mobsters to big-city terrorists from book to book. The stories in the books are well-told, with great attention paid to the smallest of details. I think of them as 1980s action films, only without being insulting to your intelligence. What a perfect series to adapt to movies, right? Well, Tom Cruise looks nothing like how Jack Reacher is described in the books. And while I thought the first Jack Reacher film was good, the second, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back , is very badly flawed. Based on the JR novel of the sa...
Post a Comment
Read more

3 Body Problem

3 Body Problem , Netflix’s latest TV series, is loosely based on the first novel in the Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy, by Chinese author Liu Cixin (who also wrote the book The Wandering Earth ). Simply put, it’s an alien invasion story, but one that’s a lot more sophisticated than your average ‘pew-pew-pew’ cliché-fest. For one thing, this series begins in the 1960s, in the middle of the Cultural Revolution, which was the nationwide purge instigated within China by then-Chairman Mao to keep himself in power. A young woman named Ye Wenjie arises from the chaos to become a central figure in the overall story. The 3 Body Problem of this series’ name refers to a far-flung solar system that has three suns. Any planet within this tri-sun system would have a hard time of it, taking turns orbiting one belligerent sun after another, and it just so happens that the aliens who set their eyes on invading Earth--known as the San-Ti--come from this embattled world. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Holdovers -- a review

It’s always a joy to watch someone who’s a master at their work, whether it’s a musician, an artist, or an actor. Most great actors make it look easy--which is not to say that I think acting is an easy job. I know from personal experience that acting is very hard. It’s a skill that the talented make look very easy, and one of the most talented actors working today is Paul Giamatti. If you’ve watched some movies over the past few years, chances are very good that you’ve already seen Paul Giamatti. He was the jittery earthquake expert in San Andreas , the sympathetic police chief in The Illusionist , and as the titular John Adams (a part that got him the Emmy and a Golden Globe) in the 2008 HBO series of the same name. Recently, I saw Paul Giamatti in the superb The Holdovers , a movie that I wasn’t planning on writing up, but I kept thinking about it--and all of its characters--long after I saw it. In The Holdovers , Giamatti plays Paul H...
Post a Comment
Read more