The pages of Roald Dahl’s admirable adventure comes to life in this big screen adaptation written and directed by Steven Spielberg. “The BFG” centers around Ten-year-old Sophie (Ruby Barnhill), who is in for the adventure of a lifetime when she meets the Big Friendly Giant (Mark Rylance). Naturally scared at first, the young girl soon realizes that the 24-foot behemoth is actually quite the gentle and charming opposite of what the legends would otherwise have her believe. As their friendship grows through imaginative adventures, Sophie’s presence attracts the unwanted attention of Bloodbottler, Fleshlumpeater and other giants set on destroying her immense best friend. After traveling to London, Sophie and the BFG must convince Queen Victoria (Penelope Wilton) to help them get rid of all the bad giants once and for all. Together, the trio set out on an adventure to help capture the evil, man-eating giants who have been invading the human world. “The BFG” is rated PG for action/peril, some scary moments and brief rude humor.

Steven Spielberg returns to the children’s genre that made him famous with such classics as “E.T” and “Hook”, and one thing certainly is made clear with “The BFG”: The man has still got it. With a story that focuses heavily on the imagination concept, “The BFG” endears some sloppy storytelling aspects by focusing on a visual fairytale that certainly invites the viewer in on magical worlds and bold, beautiful colors that surround the backgrounds. This certainly isn’t one of Steven’s best films, but it definitely has a place among family movies that packs an emotional punch from its measures on the importance of not judging others on appearance alone. Spielberg is a master of sustaining such visual awe and holds the audience’s focus for more than a few changing environments, bringing out the best in fantasy concepts and dream-like sequences that really focus on making you believe in the unbelievable. Capped by another ambitious musical score by the great John Williams, the tones are very capturing of the kind of epic storytelling elements that goes into the tone for such an adventure. There’s great hope and belief that anything can happen here, and Williams and Spielberg prove that making respectable family films still has its place among the very overabundance of one-upping animation films that rely more on wacky sounds, instead of a film with a heartfelt message. The BFG’s message is to keep those dreams near and dear to our hearts.

The visual CGI work for the film felt like it really offered something stimulating during a time when every film seems to be selling their souls for the easy way out. Spielberg’s motion capture work for Mark Rylance is very believable, and had me questioning several times if the actor was just donning a bunch of makeup and prosthetics to play the immense giant. We never lose sight of the actor deep beneath the green screen and animation around him, and those visual reactions really go a long way in communicating what our protagonist is feeling. My only problem with this work is that we still have a ways to go in believing that a little girl and a giant can exist in the same shot. The camera work decision to shoot the reactions from each height level between the BFG and Sophie is a very wise one, but the two of them in the same shot still feels obvious if only by off-color lighting within the characters skin tone that felt a little distracting to me. There’s still no doubt what is real and fake within these kind of movies, but a film like this in 2016 still feels visually superior to a film of this caliber made during the 80’s.

I mentioned Rylance’s emotional register a while ago, and it’s incredible the kind of things he is capable in considering his face is the only real aspect he has in the movie. Rylance is pleasure to watch, with a real gentle nature that makes him perfect for the character. He’s very soft-spoken in real life, so BFG isn’t just a gimmick for the giant’s personality; it’s Rylance inserting himself. The result crafts a very likable exchange with the eleven-year-old firecracker, Barnhill. Considering this is Ruby’s feature film debut, she really amazed me with how much spunk in personality that she injects into her character. She isn’t just another scared little girl like the database of films with similar structures to this one, she’s an emotional register of bravery for such foreign creatures and concepts. The movie calls on her a lot, as she’s really our only human protagonist for a majority of the movie. Ruby triumphs, offering a subtle display of childlike innocence among intimidating giants. Her heart measures up to their height, and it’s a refreshing performance. Everyone else is kind of left in the dust however, as I felt the villain giants were very one-dimensional in their bullying on the smaller co-stars. Where most child films really succeed is in offering an antagonist who people can really reason with. Unfortunately, Spielberg just doesn’t have time for the adversary, and they are virtually forgotten for a majority of the movie because of it.

Then there’s the script. For the first two acts of the movie, Spielberg crafts enough interest in setting the rules and layers for the BFG and why his story matters, then in the third act watches it crumble without a shred of honesty. To say that I was disappointed by the final half hour of this movie, would be an understatement. Without giving anything away, our two characters realize that they have to get rid of this adversary of theirs, but then the movie does anything but address this monster for twenty whole minutes. There are a couple of scenes that go on for far too long, and really do nothing in terms of setting the mood for the real dread that lies in this world. We don’t feel that race against the clock to sprout results, so nothing ever feels important here. Another big problem that I had with the script was in some of the holes in the storytelling of the other giants. We are led to believe that these vicious giants can get off of their island, but never do. We are led to believe that the BFG is the only sensitive character in the movie. So why bring different children to the island where dangerous giants lurk? The narrative at times felt all over the place, and this one definitely deserves another edit on the cutting room floor.

Overall, “The BFG” will offer children a bedtime story sure to razzle and dazzle them from the eye-catching visuals and cinematography that really does the dream-like state of the book justice. It’s not something that Spielberg will be remembered for when he shuffles off of this mortal coil, but “The BFG” is another welcome addition to the grown up in the director’s chair who still isn’t afraid to get his feet wet in the pool of imagination.

6/10