– By Cate Marquis –
Spielberg-directed Disney ‘The BFG’ is long on visual beauty and quirky charm but short on brisk pace and story action
Roald Dahl’s beloved children’s book “The BFG” gets the big screen treatment in the Steven Spielberg-directed 3D Disney film “The BFG.” Spielberg uses a mix of live-action, motion-capture animation and CGI to tell this magical fantasy tale about a little orphan girl Sophie (Ruby Barnhill) befriended by a Big Friendly Giant (BFG). Visually gorgeous and featuring a charming performance by Mark Rylance as the BFG, the film should please fans of the book and little kids most of all, although grown-ups and those not already enchanted by the book may find its slow pace and low-key story a bit dull. The film’s major appeal is its visual beauty and Rylance’s wonderful warm, funny, word-twisting character, and just seeing a favorite book brought to life on screen.
Disney previously adapted another Roald Dahl children’s classic, “James and the Giant Peach,” into a film, and other film adaptations of Dahl’s books include “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and “Fantastic Mr. Fox.”
While a little girl whisked off to a land of giants sounds like the start of a swashbuckling adventure, “The BFG” is hardly an action-packed story. It is a rather gentle story, which is not aided by a rather languid pace. Still, the point is less action than a chance to soak in the story’s magical world. The plot is focused on the sweetly odd, white-haired, big-eared giant, a shy grandfatherly figure, and his friendship with little Sophie, a little girl who loves to read and encourages the giant to stand up for himself. The story does have a little kid-friendly adventure, which involves the Queen of England (played by Penelope Wilton) of all people, but the main point is to be immersed in the BFG’s magical universe.
Two things make this film worthwhile: its spectacular visual world and the charmingly offbeat BFG character.
The white-haired, big-eared, lanky BFG is played with quirky charm and great warmth by actor Mark Rylance. Rylance captured the attention of American movie audiences with a break-out role as a spy opposite Tom Hanks in “Bridge of Spies” following up a multi-layered performance as Cromwell in BBC’s murderous Henry the Eighth thriller “Wolf Hall.” Rylance provides both the giant’s voice and the basis for the motion-capture animation, the technique used in the “Lord of the Rings” movies to create Gollum from Andy Serkis’ performance. The technique captures nuances of the actor’s expression and performance, and translates that into the animated character.
Although the BFG is enormous compared to the little girl, back in his home in Giant Land, he is considered a runt, and is bullied by a pack of much larger giants with names like Fleshlumpeater and Gizzardglupper. While the gentle BFG is a vegetarian, the other giants are meat-eaters who prefer eating “human beans.”
The twisted language is part of the fun of this story, and Rylance’s giant speaks in a kooky style that twists words like giraffes into “jiggyraffes,” fingers into “figglers,” and being caught into “splitzwiggled.” Rylance gets quite a lot of fun out of the giant’s fractured language and his appealing befuddlement at his own inability to get some words right.
Visually, “The BFG” is pure magic. The film takes us on an unparalleled visual adventure into a fantastic world. Sophie’s dreary London orphanage is depicted perfectly in shadowy, cobblestone street images, and the giant takes Sophie through a lovely English landscape to the far-off, mountainous Giant Land.
The BFG lives in a cluttered, old-fashioned, hobbit-like home built into a cave, with a workshop hidden behind a waterfall, all rich material for imagery to dazzle the eye. More dazzle fills the workshop itself, which is packed with glass jars containing glowing blobs of light. We learn these are the essence of dreams, and one of the film’s most magical sequences are when the BFG and Sophie go to harvest these little balls of colorful light at a magnificent tree deep in the woods.
Just exploring this rich environment in 3D is a delight, providing viewers with a lush and wonderful visual experience. The BFG’s crowded home provides a wealth of charmingly quirky objects for the audience to enjoy, such as his bed, which looks like an old sailing ship and floats in a little moat, or the lumpy, slimy, wonderfully gruesome vegetables called Snozzcumbers that make up his diet. The BFG’s favorite drink is a green carbonated liquid where the bubbled float down, called Frobscottle.
The giant speaks in his own offbeat version of English, peppered with silly words all his own. Rylance makes the most of this vocabulary, using to build the character and for its humor potential. The humor is decidedly little kid, with farts and physical comedy predominating. The grown-ups get a little humor too in later scenes featuring the Queen in this 1980s set story.
The main attraction of “The BFG” are the fabulous imagery of its magical world and the completely charming, quirky giant that Rylance creates, in a film that will be most enjoyable to young fans who already love the book.
© Cate Marquis
