Sophie is a young girl living in an orphanage in London who suffers from insomnia so often is awake at 3AM or what she calls the real witching hour. One of those nights while on her balcony she sees a giant but he notices her and kidnaps her from her bed taking her away to giant country where she believes she is going to be eaten and tries numerous times to escape but he eventually explains that he only took her because he had to as she would have told the world about him which would have highlighted the secret fact of his existence. So Sophie is stranded in his home with no means to get back to London but there are a number of giants living in giant country and the rest are not as friendly as Sophie’s captor so they constantly have to hide her away from the other giants who begin to suspect that there is food in the vicinity.

As Sophie spends more time with the giant a friendship of sorts develops and as he open up to her he explains that he is called the Big Friendly Giant which Sophie shortens to The BFG and he brings her along with him as he carry out his work which is capturing peoples dreams but when they return they realise that the other giants are aware of Sophie’s presence and are constantly trying to locate her so Sophie and The BFG must devise a way to rid themselves of the other giants.

I read the book many, many years ago so I was walking into this one with knowledge of the tale and with high expectations given that Stephen Spielberg was at the helm. Did it work for me as a movie? Not really, as I was pulling too many small continuity errors as the movie progressed, the constant use of the mixed up grasp of the English language used by the BGF started to get on my nerves after a while as did the bossiness of Sophie, bah humbug, I know. What I will say, putting that previous statement aside is that as a family film the BFG most certainly does work. The motion capture work for the gain by Mark Rylance is great and Ruby Barnhill matches him every step of the way as Sophie, their interaction and emotional acting works to a tee even if although some of the green screen moments are a bit plain to see.

It’s easy to say it’s a movie about a girl befriending a giant and going on an adventure together but behind the story there is so much more. The giant becomes a lost father figure, looking after Sophie, keeping her safe from danger above all else which also acts as a confessional of sorts as part of his convalescence for previous deeds. Sophie becomes a mother, guiding the giant, teaching him about the human world, correcting his mispronunciation and teaching him to stand up to bullies. It’s a very clever way of bringing two characters who feel alone in their world together in friendship.

It’s a no frills tale which is reasonably well presented but is nowhere near the Spielberg classics list however during my time in the cinema, from the laughing and giggling I heard, all the kids watching the movie were enjoying themselves so it will the kids and I’m sure some adults alike entertained.

DJ Speaks Rating: 5 Out Of 10