The BFG (1987)

This is an animated film based on a Roald Dahl tale. It's nothing too special, nevertheless a decent alternative to other more popular animated movies.

The character Sophie is cute and endearing and the best drawn character of the movie. Most of the characters are ugly, particularly the giants. The "BFG" of the title means "Big Friendly Giant" and refers to the movie's only good giant. The others are vicious.

The BFG is like a giant "E.T.". Not that he looks any similar to E.T. but, just like E.T., his beauty is on the inside. Yes, because as for the outside...

The evil giants are horrifying and gross, being Bloodbottler the most extreme on this. Fleshlumpeater is the biggest and scariest, but somehow he doesn't gross me out as much as the other mean giants.

There is some nice soundtrack and the artwork is generally very good, with some magical special effects and some more special visuals in certain scenes.

The story, without being "solid as a rock", is however entertaining and involving. A rather decent story, fair to say that. And it's easy to sympathize with the BFG and especially Sophie. There are some rather touching moments with Sophie and her friend giant.

I rate this as a 6. I guess it's a fair rating.

Fmovies: It's hard to actively dislike this adaptation but compared to the funny and grotesque novel by Roald Dahl, there's a definitely a lack of energy to the film. It's all very well scrubbed and nicely behaved, lacking the bite that the best versions of his children's books have, such as "Matilda" or "The Witches". The film was originally made for TV and sadly the animation has a decidedly flat look. There's no real sense of danger, even when the brutish man eating giants are on screen. Vocal work is effective but no one stands out. A pity because the Cosgrove Hall company has produced some of the funniest, most iconoclastic cartoons ever put on UK TV. So watch some Count Duckula or Dangermouse instead to appreciate their talents.

This cartoon adaptation of one of Roald Dahl's children's novels was released when I was only three years old, seven years after the book was published and the year before the author's death at the age of 74. I first saw this film in the early 90's, probably when I was around six or seven years old, and remember seeing it a good number of times. When I first watched this adaptation of "The BFG", I was totally unfamiliar with the book, but remember some of it being read to me around 1993 or '94. I started reading it myself during the late 90's, but didn't get very far. I never got through the entire book until this month, and then I watched this 1989 film for the first time in maybe more than fifteen years, this time on DVD, a format which had probably not yet been introduced when I last saw the film. It certainly wasn't the same as it used to be for me, but it still wasn't bad.

Sophie is an orphaned child who lives in a cruel orphanage in England. One time, she is awake late at night, and looks out her window. She sees a mysterious giant outside, blowing something into another window on the street! After the giant sees her, she is abducted and taken far away to a cave in Giant Country! At first, the girl thinks she is going to be eaten, but luckily, it turns out this giant is the Big Friendly Giant, or BFG, the only giant who doesn't eat humans. While the other giants, all much bigger than him, go out at night to find humans to eat in different countries, he goes out to blow dreams into children's bedrooms. The reason why he abducted Sophie was because she saw him, and didn't want her telling others about him, or he could end up in a zoo. So, it appears she will have to stay with him for the rest of her life. Since the BFG refuses to eat people and steal food, he has no choice but to live off a repulsive vegetable called the snozzcumber, the only thing that grows in Giant Country. Now that Sophie is here, it's also all she has to eat, though she does get a tasty drink called frobscottle, which causes major flatulence. Disgusted by the way the other giants eat humans, the human girl in their land is determined to find a way to stop them once and for all, but first, she will have to think how this could possibly be done!

I never noticed this as a kid, but one flaw that stands out here is the animation. The backgrounds often seem like still paintings used as a backdrop for the two-dimensional drawn figures in the foreground, and these two elements do not go well together. During shots of landscapes in the film, it sometimes seems like a camera moving around a painting for a documentary about the person who painted it. Animation has become significantly more advanced in the past couple decades, but even for 1989 and probably long before then, it's pretty primitive here. Mind you, there are some nice backgrounds, such as the Dream Country one and the BFG's dream cave with all the colourful lights, and music that really fits these scenes. This intrigued me in a unique way as a kid, and I guess it still did during my most recent viewing to a certain extent. The voice acting is good for the most part (even if it's not great), and the BFG is a likable character, with David Jason providing a voice that fits him. The screenplay may seem a little rushed at first, but overall, it's an entertaining and sometimes exciting adventure. There's even a song about frobscottle and the flatulence it causes, and while this part is a little juvenile, I can'

The BFG fmovies. Roald Dahl's books are often victims of horrible screen writing and I feared the BFG would be the same kind of movie but I shouldn't have worried. I've read The BFG several times but didn't see this movie until recently. I heard that Roald Dahl himself even liked this adaptation and I can certainly see why. It's very faithful to the book. Of course, it's a little campy since it's a product of the late 80s but somehow that adds to its charm. I found this film highly enjoyable, keeping a similar tone to Dahl's writing and adapting it for the screen very well. I would definitely recommend this movie to those who had read the book but if you haven't, it's still a decent movie. There's talk of a remake which I think could also be good and I'm glad for it because it might make people notice this movie. Like I said in the title, it's not a perfect film but it's good.

I have two criticisms of this movie, one is that the animation sometimes is a little flat, and the second is that Sophie and the Queen while well voiced by Amanda Root and Angela Thorne are more interesting in the book(which I loved as a kid). The best aspect was the wonderful voice work of David Jason, one of the most talented British actors alive today. His BFG is somewhat charming, but especially in the whizzpopping scene where he is hilarious, and his grammatical errors are a delight to hear, as some of them are very silly. The child-eating giants like the Fleshlumpeater and the Bloodbottler were very well done, and I also really liked the music. Sure it isn't Oscar-worthy material, but it is still a pleasure to listen to. I do prefer the book, but this adaptation, while not perfect, is not bad at all. 8/10. Bethany Cox.

When I first saw this film I must have been about eight and loved it! It made me laugh and due to the fantastic writing talents of Roald Dahl I can still remember the storyline. The film remains faithful to the book, something most Dahl adaptations fail to do, (eg. the witches in while being a great film has a different ending to the book) and the animation, while not being up to todays standards, doesn't interfere with the viewing of the film. David Jason's unique voice (Count Duckular) is memorable in this role as the BFG. Overall I would say this was a fantastic family film, definately aimed at children but true to the book which is something any 5-12 year old Dahl fan will love.