Good concept, poorly executed.

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

I loved reading Roald Dahl's novels when I was younger, especially Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and I also liked the film adaptations of some of them (most notably 'Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory' plus the 2005 remake, 'Matilda,' 'James and the Giant Peach' and this one, 'The BFG'). I had this on video as a child, rented the DVD when I was 18 and watched it on YouTube for the first time in eight years earlier today.Although the character animation was often flickery and sometimes slow, the backgrounds were well-drawn and the scenery of Dream Country was absolutely beautiful. The story was mostly faithful to the book, albeit Sophie having short red hair instead of long blonde hair as shown in the book illustrations, but I found the climax where several helicopters drop the mean human-eating giants in the pit forgettable. In spite of this, most of the scenes are memorable and the Bloodbottler entering the BFG's cave startled me today and it also scared my brother when he was 16 and watching this film with me when I rented it. The standout scenes were those involving Sophie being snatched from her orphanage by the BFG and the BFG showing her around his cave, offering her some Snozzcumber and Frobscottle (leading to the scatological yet funny Whizzpopper scene), making her a new dress and making a little boy (who has a Danger Mouse poster on his wall if you look closely) dream of becoming invisible when pressing his belly button and frightening his teacher. The music was full of charm and tension, even though some of it had late 80s written all over it, and I liked the Whizzpopper song and the dreamy 'Sometimes, Secretly.' As for the dialogue, the BFG's was the funniest due to it being grammatically incorrect and containing hybrid words. When I saw this as a child, I cried towards the end when the BFG said goodbye to Sophie and she wanted to be with him forever and always. Even though I didn't cry at that scene earlier today, I still found it a touching way to end the film.Like 'Igor (which I enjoyed even more second time around),' this is another film where I increased my rating due to finding it a nostalgic delight that was worth a re-visit after several years. 9/10.

This cartoon adaptation of one of Roald Dahl's children's novels was released when I was only three years old, seven years after the book was published and the year before the author's death at the age of 74. I first saw this film in the early 90's, probably when I was around six or seven years old, and remember seeing it a good number of times. When I first watched this adaptation of "The BFG", I was totally unfamiliar with the book, but remember some of it being read to me around 1993 or '94. I started reading it myself during the late 90's, but didn't get very far. I never got through the entire book until this month, and then I watched this 1989 film for the first time in maybe more than fifteen years, this time on DVD, a format which had probably not yet been introduced when I last saw the film. It certainly wasn't the same as it used to be for me, but it still wasn't bad.Sophie is an orphaned child who lives in a cruel orphanage in England. One time, she is awake late at night, and looks out her window. She sees a mysterious giant outside, blowing something into another window on the street! After the giant sees her, she is abducted and taken far away to a cave in Giant Country! At first, the girl thinks she is going to be eaten, but luckily, it turns out this giant is the Big Friendly Giant, or BFG, the only giant who doesn't eat humans. While the other giants, all much bigger than him, go out at night to find humans to eat in different countries, he goes out to blow dreams into children's bedrooms. The reason why he abducted Sophie was because she saw him, and didn't want her telling others about him, or he could end up in a zoo. So, it appears she will have to stay with him for the rest of her life. Since the BFG refuses to eat people and steal food, he has no choice but to live off a repulsive vegetable called the snozzcumber, the only thing that grows in Giant Country. Now that Sophie is here, it's also all she has to eat, though she does get a tasty drink called frobscottle, which causes major flatulence. Disgusted by the way the other giants eat humans, the human girl in their land is determined to find a way to stop them once and for all, but first, she will have to think how this could possibly be done! I never noticed this as a kid, but one flaw that stands out here is the animation. The backgrounds often seem like still paintings used as a backdrop for the two-dimensional drawn figures in the foreground, and these two elements do not go well together. During shots of landscapes in the film, it sometimes seems like a camera moving around a painting for a documentary about the person who painted it. Animation has become significantly more advanced in the past couple decades, but even for 1989 and probably long before then, it's pretty primitive here. Mind you, there are some nice backgrounds, such as the Dream Country one and the BFG's dream cave with all the colourful lights, and music that really fits these scenes. This intrigued me in a unique way as a kid, and I guess it still did during my most recent viewing to a certain extent. The voice acting is good for the most part (even if it's not great), and the BFG is a likable character, with David Jason providing a voice that fits him. The screenplay may seem a little rushed at first, but overall, it's an entertaining and sometimes exciting adventure. There's even a song about frobscottle and the flatulence it causes, and while this part is a little juvenile, I can't deny that the "Whizzpopping" song is catchy. There's another song in the film called "Sometimes, Secretly" featured in the flying scene in Dream Country. I felt that the movie could have done without this song. It's like a radio-friendly pop ballad, and as such, it seemed out of place to me, but fortunately, that's just one part of the film.This piece of animation certainly isn't the most famous Roald Dahl adaptation, and it seems to be a polarizing one. It's fairly faithful to the book for the most part, but some parts are obviously left out, and some liberties are taken, especially with the ending. It has clearly disappointed some fans of the children's novel, and that often happens with film adaptations of books. However, even though I now think this adaptation of "The BFG" is inferior to the book it's based on, after reading it and watching this again (I know many people would agree), and it could have been better in more than one way, I certainly don't think the film is an insult to Dahl and his novel. Some viewers obviously wouldn't like this animated movie at all (I think it's more fun for kids than adults, judging by my latest viewing compared to the previous times I watched it, all over a decade earlier), and it might not help if they've read the book first, but even if that's the case, this adaptation still COULD be at least somewhat fun.

I had just finished reading the original Roald Dahl novel (which I thought was brilliant), and at the video store I found the DVD of an animated version. Curious to see if it would be as good as the book, I checked it out.I can't say I wasn't a little let down with it. The animation bothered me a little in some scenes (jerkiness, etc.), though in general it wasn't too bad (I really liked some of the backgrounds). And it could have done without the songs, which really got on my nerves. Thankfully there's only two, so it could have been worse.I thought the BFG was very much in character, but the Queen and Sophie were a bit more interesting in the book. The evil Giants also had a lot more to them in the book, and were even more sinister, yet a bit funny too. That was lacking in the cartoon adaption.All in all, not a terrible cartoon, just not very good. I very highly recommend the book, and once you've read it, you might want to check out this cartoon, but you may be let down (or you may not. No one has the same tastes). I just feel something's missing here.

Well, you really can't expect much from a movie that has a song about flatulence(really!I hardly could believe it myself! Flying around because of it, geez..). it really was just okay, something kids can enjoy, but will probably annoy anyone older than 10. it is cute, however, but this isn't the perfect family film for kids under 4 because of some big scary giants. As I said, when a movie has a song about flatulence, it is really meant for little kids.