If you're a fan of Roald Dahl's best-selling children's book, then it's quite likely that you'll file The BFG into the let-down list of "book-to-movie adaptations gone blah". Director Steven Spielberg is generous with mood-setting by immersing you in his beautiful visuals (heck, the movie is an hour and 58 minutes long), but it doesn't quite stir any emotion.
Good thing they didn't mess up with the casting of the lead actress, even if her short hair causes a brawl in your mind against Quentin Blake's iconic scratchy pen illustrations. From the very first shot, it is easy to see how sensible and no-nonsense our main star Sophie (Ruby Barnhill) is, as she locks the doors Mrs Clonkers forgets to lock and yells at drunk bums next door causing a ruckus that may disturb sleeping children at the orphanage. The orphan strikes a perfect chemistry with the titular Big Friendly Giant (Mark Rylance, in CGI), who is benevolent but bumbling and somewhat hillbilly but endearing in his nonsensical use of vocabulary. The young actress sparkles with just the right amount of maturity, innocence, curiosity and spunk, as she starts warming up to the giant who could use a friend just as much as she could.
The thing is, there is no sense of urgency, despite nine other horrid giants in the background ready to scarf down Sophie any minute. You feel no chilling horror about the fact that giants are snatching children out of their beds and there's actually a sense of disbelief of Giant Country, which see-saws between computer-generated wasteland and computer-generated dreamland. The book gave terrifying chills at night that disgusting and frightening giants would come eat you up. When the pace quietens to raise the sights and sounds in the world of dreams, it is a wondrously astounding image only imagination could give flight to. There is an undeniable loneliness, glee and terror that one feels, while reading this tale of a girl and giant working together to prevent the more ghastly brood of giants from eating out all the children of the world.
Yes, the movie does have some fun parts -- cue the corgis and the Queen of England, played by Penelope Wilton. Although something of a cookie-cutter caricature, Wilton is a good choice and a propah hoot when she encounters Sophie and the BFG in her own palace. There are warm fuzzy feels, but to put things in perspective, the movie is just one page of breathtaking thrill and sparkling vivacity that the book can deliver.
The BFG
Starring Ruby Barnhill and Mark Rylance.
Directed by Steven Spielberg.
