Overview
Steven Spielberg directed this adaptation of Roald Dahl's beloved novel, which centers on the unlikely friendship between a lonely orphan named Sophie (Ruby Barnhill) and the titular "big friendly giant" (brought to life via a motion-capture performance from Mark Rylance). Together, the pair explore Giant Country and collect dreams; later, they try to warn the Queen of England (Penelope Wilton) about the threat posed by the other giants, who, unlike the vegetarian BFG, eat children for sustenance. THE BFG made its world premiere at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, and is dedicated to the memory of screenwriter Melissa Mathison (who also wrote the script for Spielberg's E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL). Rebecca Hall, Bill Hader, Jemaine Clement, and Rafe Spall co-star.
Awards:
Main Cast & Crew:
Steven Spielberg - Director
Rebecca Hall
Mark Rylance
Jemaine Clement
Bill Hader
Penelope Wilton
Ruby Barnhill
Adam Godley
Daniel Bacon
Michael Adamthwaite
Olafur Olafsson
Details
- Format: DVD
- Run Time: 120
- Color Format: Color
- UPC: 786936849059
- Genre: Fantasy
- Rating: PG (MPAA) (action/peril, some scary moments and brief rude humor)
- Release Date: November 2016
Movie Reviews
Reviews:
"So much of The BFG, read or watched, is pure world-building....The film’s best set pieces are reminders that no one integrates digital effects into a physical world quite as deftly as Spielberg..." - 06/27/2016 A.V. Club
3.5 stars out of 4 -- "Like the BFG, it cares about the little things, and it moves with a grace that belies its size. It's a film about about dreaming and storytelling, parenting and childhood, nostalgia and pragmatism, and the necessity of standing up for yourself even when you know you can't win." - 07/01/2016 RogerEbert.com
"THE BFG possesses a rich and unmistakably Spielbergian understanding of the loneliness of childhood, and of the enduring consolations that friendship and imagination can offer...[It is] a thing of wily cleverness and lithe, surprising grace." - 06/30/2016 Los Angeles Times
"[A] small, friendly movie, an attempt to reconcile the scale and dazzle of modern filmmaking with the quiet, mischievous charm of Roald Dahl’s book." - 06/30/2016 New York Times
3 stars out of 4 -- "[Rylance's] motion-capture performance as a 24-foot giant is both subtly nuanced and truly monumental." - 06/28/2016 Rolling Stone
"THE BFG is the latest gob-stopping marvel of pixel-enhanced family fantasy, but it only works as an emotional experience because of four human beings, two behind the camera and two in front of it." - 06/30/2016 Boston Globe
4 stars out of 5 -- "[I]t delights, with the 69-year-old director showing that his imagination remains vast and spry as he returns to the kind of old-fashioned storytelling married to state-of-the-art-effects that made him the wunderkind of ’70s/’80s blockbuster cinema." - 07/18/2016 Total Film
"[A] marvellously melancholic motion-capture performance by Mark Rylance and vibrant support from rising star Ruby Barnhill provide the beating heart of this extremely likable adaptation of Roald Dahl’s family favourite..." - 07/24/2016 The Guardian
"From the start, the director scales the production to Spielbergian heights..." - 06/30/2016 Film Comment
