The BFG

This has to be one of Disney's and Spielberg's most disappointing collaborations. At least four times I questioned where the plot was going and when it was ever going to end. The ending had two resolutions which left an obvious loop hole. The setting for this movie was completely inaccurate and the main character had many goals which clogged the story. Even though this movie is an adaptation from a children's novel, it lacked the visual story structure of a film format.

The BFG (Big Friendly Giant) is about 10-year-old Sophie that is taken from the orphanage by BFG to the Land of Giants. Although Sophie is frightened by BFG, she soon realizes he is a gentle giant. Sophie wants to learn more about BFG's world and the strange jars with glowing lights in his secret layer. But, the longer Sophie stays in BFG's world the sooner the child-eating giants discover her existence. Sophie refuses to leave and instead develops a plan to rid the world of the child-eating giants and for BFG to live in peace.

I had several issues with this film. The biggest issue was the plot. The story writers didn't take their time developing the plot before focusing on the natural dialogue. Sophie's discovery of BFG was rather quick and BFG taking her was random. BFG's face was purposely not shown for the dramatic effect. But, it would have been better if he showed some kind of anxiousness or worry for a human to see him. Instead, we watch the kidnapping through Sophie's perspective inside the coiled blanket BFG is carrying across London.

The antagonists are introduced several times, but most times are random. The first time was Fleshlumpeater visiting BFG to heal his "boo-boo". Fleshlumpeater smells Sophie's scent and that's when we're introduced to the conflict of the story. Giants eat children, despite BFG being a vegetarian. In a later time, Fleshlumpeater and the rest of the Giants enter BFG's home, but somehow discover the location of his secret layer where BFG and Sophie are hanging out after a long night of catching dreams in the Land of Dreams. From this scene, BFG whips up the courage to kick out the Giants from his home. But, Sophie isn't satisfied with this outcome despite BFG going through a significant character change which is completely overlooked.

Sophie then develops a plan to contact the Queen, it's not clear which Queen, and have her take the child-eating giants away from the world and BFG's home. While the Queen's military takes the giants away, Sophie and BFG release the nightmares about cannibalism and the giants realize that eating children is wrong. My problem with this is that the story developers had two resolutions in mind. It was obviously they couldn't pick, so they used both at the same time. Honestly, the Queen plot was not necessary. if it was taken out, nothing in the story would change except for Sophie having a home in the end. Which is another plot problem. But, that's not worth arguing about.

Another issue with this movie was the time setting. The extras in the film were dressed in modern clothes, but Sophie was dressed in a victorian children's nightgown. Children today don't wear nightgowns unless their toddlers. So, the costuming was odd, but it was to mimic the drawings from the book. As for the Queen, the portrait Sophie finds in BFG's secret layer is of Queen Victoria. Yet, when the Queen character is introduced, she looks more like Queen Elizabeth. It would make much more sense if it was Queen Elizabeth based on the technology, vehicle transportation, and local dialogue.

I really enjoyed the creativity in the Land of Dreams. It was neat how BFG could combine dreams and create new dreams or nightmares. That was an original aspect of the story. Other than that, the human eating giants wasn't anything new. But, this story was written a long time ago, so during it's time it was new.

With more developing and revising, this movie could have been a lot better. It's a movie to watch then store away on a shelf in the back of the closet.

#BFG #DisneyStudios #StevenSpielburg