Disney's The BFG - movie review

I was always going to love The BFG. Roald Dahl has forever been a fixture in my life, and what’s more, I snagged a free ticket – the greatest of many perks in library work! However, I was honestly surprised at how much I loved it, nay, respected it.

Firstly, whatever kind of new-fangled expensive CGI techniques they used, I am on board completely. I generally have a fairly low cringe tolerance for anything even facing in the direction of the uncanny valley, but I am very happy to say they the film was never even close to such territory. The BFG’s enormous mug is actually very realistic, alternating between crinkly and charming and touchingly solemn. At first I was furious to discover that my primary school teacher was NOT cast in this role, but I’ve since eased up. Peter, you would have been marvellous – but Mark Rylance does a wonderful job.

The landscapes are colourful, fantastic, stunning enough to rival your favourite avant-garde/surrealist directors. I cannot stress enough how much I appreciated the use of colour, and the palette is very of the moment in its techni-coloured shades of nebula/galaxy. In true Dahl fashion, there are plenty of silly gags (read: farts) to allow for chuckles across the age spectrum, and also some sage life lessons – i.e., bullies sadly exist (Jemaine Clement is brilliant as the main antagonist, the Fleshlumpeater), families are often neither neat or nuclear, and happiness invariably occurs alongside a dose of sadness. Of course in the end, kindness prevails – but if you’re into having your heartstrings tugged *gently* then it’s pretty much a winner in that respect.

If I had any complaints, I suppose it would be that there was nothing really scary about the film, which, to dedicated Dahl fans, may seem an aberration – especially as (in my opinion anyway) the trailer seemed to promise some chills. And you know, it’s about a little girl being kidnapped by a giant man and taken away to a land where other giants – GIANT giants considering that The BFG is really a runt of a giant – eat little children. But, if you’re willing to suspend your disbelief, giving up on the more sinister side of Dahl’s oeuvre and making way for his sentimental elements, then I believe you will enjoy it. What it lacks in wickedness, it more than makes up for in lovely visuals, charm, silliness and warmth.

The BFG opens in New Zealand cinemas on Thursday 7 July, 2016.

Our thanks to Disney for providing the movie passes to our reviewer.

Celebrating 50 years in print

To celebrate 50 years in print, an anniversary edition of A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle has been published. If you've enjoyed tales by J.K. Rowling, Margaret Mahy, Tamora Pierce, Alan Garner or Susan Price, but you *still* haven't read Madeline L'Engle, then now is definitely the time to check it out.

The book begins with the classic line, "It was a dark and stormy night", and is the tale of a young girl, Meg Murry, whose scientist father disappears after working on a project called tesseract. After a night time visit from Mrs Whatsit (later joined by Mrs Who and Mrs Which), Meg, her brother Charles and a school friend Calvin O'Keefe, set off across time & space to find her father.

It has won all sorts of awards over the years, including the Newbury Medal, and is the first in a series of stories about the Murry and O'Keefe families.

There's a Facebook page, as well as a 50 Years, 50 Days, 50 Blogs tour which kicks off this week where bloggers are riffing about A wrinkle in time and its impact over the past 50 years.