We’ve just been to see The BFG at the cinema, and I thought it’d be a good time to do a quick review.
The BFG needs very little introduction – Roald Dahl’s 1982 is a classic, and one I know I will have read. H at almost seven is massively into Roald Dahl, and has been looking forward to seeing the film.
It follows the book closely, and is a Very Long Film. I say this, as you need to be prepared. It comes in at just under two hours – so make sure you go to a cinema with comfy seats!
Sophie is played wonderfully by Ruby Barnhill, and in some ways reminded me of the actress who plays Matilda in the film of the same name – very spirited and knows her own mind. The BFG is played by Mark Rylance, and is put together so wonderfully – you’re not quite sure if he’s the good guy or not (and the first trailer that came out was REALLY scary), but when you know he is, you can really feel the goodness in him.
The BFG captures dreams, and Sophie catches him doing just that, so he has to take her away from the orphanage she lives in, so she doesn’t tell anyone he exists. She’s pretty happy about that as she hated it there anyway.
Once Sophie is in Giant Country, she realises escaping isn’t an option, especially when she discovers some human-eating giants. (I would say the parts where the human-eating giants are the mild peril parts, they’re not pleasant types!).
The BFG is able to hide Sophie from the other giants, and eventually she persuades him to take her to Dream Country, where he captures dreams in jars (if you’re in London check the BFG Dream Jar trail running until the end of August). Unfortunately he captures a bad dream.
They head back to London though Sophie loses her blanket around now. The BFG realises that the other giants will know she exists, and it’s too dangerous for her to head back to Giant Country. Sophie is dropped off at the orphanage once more, and eventually persuades the BFG to let her go back.
I don’t want to give too much of the plot away, but let’s just say the rest of the story involves the Queen, snozzcumbers, whizzpopping (even the Queen does), frobscottle (which causes you to do a spot of whizzpopping), and a golden phizzwizard and much more. Oh, and plenty of Giant speak.
It’s a Steven Spielberg film, and much as he succeeded with ET, it’s a similar formula on The BFG. Quentin Blake’s illustrations are a massive inspiration for the film, and I’m glad it has stayed faithful to the story and the images children will have grown up with. Oh, and it’s yet another fabulous Disney film!
It gets a BIG thumbs up from us!
The BFG is in cinemas now – and we’re also pretty excited as we got to see the new ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’ trailer – roll on November!!