tek's rating: ¾

The BFG (PG) (live-action/CGI)
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This came out in 2016, but I didn't see it until 2025. It's based on a 1982 novel by Roald Dahl, which I haven't read, and seems to be set in the early 1980s. It was directed by Steven Spielberg, with music by John Williams. The title is an abbreviation of "Big Friendly Giant", and the giants in the film are CGI, using motion capture.

A young girl named Sophie has insomnia, and is up wandering around the orphanage where she lives around 3AM (the witching hour). While looking out the window, she sees a giant. When he realizes she's seen him, he kidnaps her and takes her to his home in giant country, so that she couldn't tell anyone about him. He has a funny way of speaking, and at first he doesn't seem so friendly, but really he just wants to keep her hidden from the other giants (who are at least twice his size), because they would certainly eat her. But before long, Sophie and the "BFG" become friends. He takes her to dream country, where he catches dreams and stores them in jars. He sometimes releases good dreams to people who are sleeping.

Eventually the other giants learn there's a human around. (They call them "beans", which reminds me of The Borrowers, which I think is interesting because in that story, humans are the giants.) The giants wreck a lot of stuff in the BFG's home while looking for Sophie, but they don't find her. She decides they need to get rid of the other giants for good, and comes up with a plan to get help from Queen Elizabeth II and her military.

And that is all I want to reveal of the plot. My enjoyment of the movie improved throughout the time I was watching it, and my estimation of how high I would rank it increased steadily from one and a half smileys to two and three quarters. I liked the two main characters, and overall the story was pretty good, though not really great. And I can't really think of anything deeper to say about it. It was just a reasonably fun movie, and I'm glad to have watched it, though it's not something I care a great deal about. I am sorry it didn't do better financially, because I think it deserves to be a moderate hit, not a bomb. (It did make nearly $200 million worldwide, so I suppose a fair number of people saw it, but it didn't make enough more than its cost to be considered a hit.)


fantasy index
Roald Dahl film adaptations
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory * The Witches * James and the Giant Peach * Matilda * Charlie and the Chocolate Factory * Fantastic Mr. Fox * The BFG