ThiefHott Too much of everything

Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Nayan Gough A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Atreyu_II This is an animated film based on a Roald Dahl tale. It's nothing too special, nevertheless a decent alternative to other more popular animated movies.The character Sophie is cute and endearing and the best drawn character of the movie. Most of the characters are ugly, particularly the giants. The "BFG" of the title means "Big Friendly Giant" and refers to the movie's only good giant. The others are vicious.The BFG is like a giant "E.T.". Not that he looks any similar to E.T. but, just like E.T., his beauty is on the inside. Yes, because as for the outside...The evil giants are horrifying and gross, being Bloodbottler the most extreme on this. Fleshlumpeater is the biggest and scariest, but somehow he doesn't gross me out as much as the other mean giants.There is some nice soundtrack and the artwork is generally very good, with some magical special effects and some more special visuals in certain scenes.The story, without being "solid as a rock", is however entertaining and involving. A rather decent story, fair to say that. And it's easy to sympathize with the BFG and especially Sophie. There are some rather touching moments with Sophie and her friend giant.I rate this as a 6. I guess it's a fair rating.

Jonathon Dabell The BFG is one of Roald Dahl's most cherished books, but in this animated adaptation the magic just isn't there. This version remains pretty faithful to Dahl's original story so one can't lay the blame on John Hambley's script. If anything the fault lies with the colourless animation, the lethargic pace and the generally lacklustre voice-overs. One would be right to expect this story to make for a happy, vibrant, fun-filled movie..... instead, the film is a hopelessly dull affair that becomes quite tedious to watch. Children who are not familiar with the story should definitely read the book first! All the film will achieve is to put them off read what is actually a children's' classic.Young orphan Sophie (voice of Amanda Root) lives in a none-too-friendly orphanage under the cruel supervision of Mrs Clonkers. One evening she is peering through the window when she spots a massive figure walking stealthily down the village street. The figure realises it has been seen, so it reaches in through the window and scoops Sophie from her bed, placing her into its enormous pocket before fleeing into the night. Sophie soon discovers that she has been kidnapped by a giant from Giant Country, and fears that he will eat her. But to her relief he turns out to be a kind and sensitive member of his species who introduces himself as the BFG (voice of David Jason). The BFG refuses to eat people, instead restricting himself to foul-tasting vegetables known as snozzcumbers. However, Giant Country is populated by numerous other giants who DO feast - every night, as it happens - on poor unsuspecting humans. Sophie and the BFG become great friends, and soon they come up with a plan to thwart the other giants. Together they go to the Queen of England (voice of Angela Thorne) with their remarkable story and beg her to send the army and the air force to fight the man-eating giants. The Queen agrees and so begins a dangerous operation to capture the bad giants before they can harm anyone else.Jason voices the BFG quite well (one of the few pluses in the film) but his good work is almost ruined by somewhat poor sound quality. The rest of the voice work is decidedly uninspired, with very little to bring the characters to life. Similarly, the BFG is the only character that is imaginatively animated - Sophie lacks appeal, and the giants are boringly designed (and look almost indistinguishable from each other). Even the places are uninventive; Giant Country especially comes up short, being nothing more than a barren wasteland with occasional rocks and canyons. At 88 minutes the film is not exactly lengthy, yet it drags quite badly in parts due to the soporific handling of several sequences. Little of Dahl's mischievous humour is conveyed satisfactorily. One chapter in the book deals with the BFG's love of "whizzpopping" (farting) and is laugh-out-loud hilarious. In the film, the same section is totally killed by unfunny handling. I came to the The BFG expecting lots of zest, fun and enjoyment, but what I got was pretty much the opposite! This one is a failed misfire that simply doesn't match the calibre of the book in any department - unfortunately, therefore, it must go down as one to skip.

vix62 All I can say is that i used to love this film when I was little! I thought it was brill! Watching it a couple of months ago I spoiled it cos it's not that good when you're older. It's based on the book by Roald Dahl and the book is much better but I think you could say that about most films which are based on books! Worth watching if you're a small child (which I very much doubt you are)(he he), otherwise i'd read the book (whatever age you are!)

xxlittlekittenxx 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.