(This review may contain spoilers).
Having read the book and seen the original movie of The BFG a long time ago, I was quite eager to see the live action version. Unfortunately, while the movie was kind of entertaining to watch, I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as I thought I would.
I actually really didn’t like Sophie. I could understand her being a precocious child, but she seemed to have very little in the way of manners and apart from one scene, she didn’t really seem to act like a child. For instance, she didn’t join in with drinking the BFG’s drink… or even eat anything in his home, while the book had Sophie doing both. Though, I have to say, the Snozzcumbers did look really unappetizing and disgusting.
It was really good to see the BFG’s size in comparison to that of the other giants, who were really quite cruel to him, though it was interesting to hear some hints of a time before.
I really did like seeing the giant country and the mountain where the BFG did his ‘work’. It was really sad to learn more about his history with another child, but it was good to see how he could find a place for Sophie to sleep and live.
I really liked seeing the dreams that were stored and how collecting them worked. I would have liked to see a bit more of Sophie’s time at the orphanage, as her insisting on going back didn’t seem to make much sense, considering she seemed to have no relationships with any of the other girls… and there was only one instance where she interacted with someone (or a group of someones) before the BFG took her.
There were some good amusing moments in the movie, but also some good moments of tension. While the ending seemed a bit rushed, since there was little interaction between Sophie and the woman who apparently adopted her by the end, it was still sweet to see.