The BFG – Film Review
The BFG is directed by Steven Spielberg who directed movies such as E.T. The Extra Terrestrial, and Jurassic Park, and is about a young girl by the name of Sophie (Ruby Barnhill) who one day gets magically whisked away by The Big Friendly Giant (Mark Rylance), in which they both travel to Giant Country in order to put a stop to the bullies that constantly pick on the titular character.
A big praise for the film is its sense of magic. From the very first few scenes, the film actually felt insanely creepy, and I was getting the chills all over my body. The first thirty-five minutes felt so unique, and something we have never seen before, and it was a treat for my eyes to see so much magic in a family film. However, even in its first thirty-five minutes there was quite a bit of exposition which felt very forced. Additionally, it felt like the film completely changed its tone after its magically creepy feeling in its first act.
But the CGI work that was accomplished in the film is to be praised very much. The CGI character of The Big Friendly Giant was programmed to look like the actor who voices him, Mark Rylance, and if you look at side by side photos of Rylance and the film’s titular character, it is insane how much they look alike.
The film also has a bunch of humor to keep the young children entertained. There were some jokes that actually worked, but most of the film’s humor came off as only funny to very young children, and was hard for people who were not young kids to laugh at the jokes. The story of the film also began to bore me after a while, and eventually I was wondering when the film would be over because of how boring the third act was at times, and part of the reason why could be because the third act does not quite have the magic the first two acts had achieved perfectly.
In-Summary: Steven Spielberg’s The BFG has a pretty solid first and second act, but begins to be a bore-fest towards its third act.
Overall Grade: C+
MPAA Rating: PG for action/peril, some scary moments and brief rude humor
Cast: Ruby Barnhill, Mark Rylance, Penelope Wilton, Rafe Spall, Rebecca Hall
Directed by: Steven Spielberg
Distributed by: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Running Time: 117 minutes