The BFG
Starring: Mark Rylance, Ruby Barnhill and Jemaine Clement
Directed by: Steven Spielberg
Written by: Melissa Mathison
Reviewed by: Joshua Ochoa
[rating: 3.5/5]
Steven Spielberg and Roald Dahl are household names and with The BFG these two ‘giants’ come together for a visual effects driven family film. The BFG (Big Friendly Giant) follows little orphan Sophie (Ruby Barnhill) as she’s taken away by BFG (Mark Rylance) after she spots him sending dreams to the sleeping residents of her small town. BFG takes Sophie to giant country where they come across a group of man eating giants led by Fleshlumpeater (Jemaine Clement) who wishes to eat Sophie. Together BFG and Sophie must find a way to stand up to Fleshlumpeater so that they can live happily together.
The BFG brings Spielberg back together with E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial scribe Melissa Mathison (who unfortunately passed away November last year). You can definitely see similarities to their previous collaboration. Mathison’s adaptation of Dahl’s short book manages to keep the framework of the story, but to make such a small work a feature length film, there’s a lot of blanks to be filled in. The result is one of the strangest children’s films I’ve seen in a long time. This isn’t a bad thing at all. The BFG is the type of film where you can’t predict what’s going to happen next and this comes with both positives and negatives.
The BFG is a strange member of Spielberg’s filmography. It doesn’t feel like a Spielberg picture, but there’s something exciting about that. Though it contains his mastery of the visual medium at lot Spielberg’s signature style has been put to the side for this film as he embraces a lot of new technology in order to tell this story. Though the film is rather intimate in size it is a very effects heavy film; utilising motion-capture and a lot of green screening along with practical trickery as well. The visual effects are beautifully rendered and aided by great cinematography the film is a stunning one to boot.
The cast is absolutely delightful. Newcomer Ruby Barnhill manages to hold her own against veterans including Oscar winner Rylance who brings the BFG to life. Barnhill displays great courage and intellect whilst Rylance brings a warm innocence full of tender care and together they manage to craft one of the sweetest films you’ll see this year. They’re essential to creating many wonderful moments of emotion both of joy and sadness. The score from John Williams is serviceable but manages to feel like a re-tread of previous works. The production design is delightfully unique and there are many beautiful images that’ll be sure to stay in your mind.
Unfortunately the film is longer than it needs to be. The pacing is fine but there are scenes that overstay their welcome and other’s that seem entirely random and of no importance. Because a lot of gaps had to be filled to reach feature length it’s not a focused story. But, at the end of the day it’s just great to see Spielberg return to family friendly affair after dwelling in adult and political dramas for the past decade. The BFG may not be perfect but as strange as it can be sometimes, that doesn’t stop it from being incredibly sweet and heartfelt.
