“The BFG,” also known as “Big Friendly Giant,” is directed by Steven Spielberg, it’s based on the book by Rohld Dahl, the author of titles like Fantastic Mr. Fox and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It’s about a girl named Sophie, she lives in an orphanage, and one night she’s awake during the witching hour. During that night, a giant is walking out near the orphanage, when all of a sudden, the two notice each other. The giant decides to capture Sophie, and takes him to his homeland, otherwise known as Giant Country. While up there, it turns out that this giant is a dream creator, he is the only one of his kind that’s actually nice to human beings, otherwise known as human beans from the giants’ perspective. Every other giant hates the giant that captured Sophie since he doesn’t eat humans (specifically children).

For the record, this movie was actually one of my highest anticipated movies of 2016. Reasons for this included direction by Steven Spielberg, music by John Williams, and especially a huge nostalgia factor, otherwise known as Rohld Dahl’s book. This book was read to me multiple times in elementary school, I read it a couple times myself, and I watched the “not so great” animation based on the book twice, once by myself, and another time in school. So yeah, I had high hopes for this movie. Although keep in mind, I’m not looking for similarities to the book, I’m looking for a good film. Judging by the movie’s trailers, that’s what I saw coming, and that’s what I got.

Ruby Barnhill played Sophie in this movie. In all honesty she was awesome when bringing this character to life. The actress seemed to have her down to a science, she didn’t seem to daydream or overact like some child actors do. She knew when to bring in the right tone at the right time, she knew when to be calm, when to yell, where to look, etc. In a world where we have several child actors that are either annoying or slip up all the time, this is basically a sigh of relief.

Mark Rylance plays the Big Friendly Giant, and I think it’s a great interpretation. I think it’s even better since he’s “friendly.” His voice matches with friendliness and it kind of reminds of someone who happens to be wise, despite how he has a speech impediment. By the way the actor is 56 so I wouldn’t say he’s old. One thing I love about him is the symbolism I saw throughout the film. He says he’s a giant, but looking at him compared to the other giants in the film, they are actually quite bigger than the BFG appears to be. That actually suits his character quite well as he doesn’t eat children, therefore further indicating him as an outcast.

The relationship between Sophie and the BFG was another highlight to me. You can really sense the thoughts between the two living things, as this book comes to life on film. The chemistry worked between the duo and it moved the movie along quite well. During the second half of the movie, it felt very charming to watch the two develop in terms of their connection.

In terms of the script, whoever wrote it or read it during production probably had the slightest bit of fun doing so. I loved hearing what the giants had to say, all the imaginative vocabulary was kind of funky at times and made me and my mentor, the person I came to see this with, laugh. Sure, it was taken from the book, but hearing it out loud in the movie sounded hilarious. Speaking of humor, this movie has an unbelievably funny version of one of the most overused jokes ever, specifically the fart joke. I won’t say what it is, because it will probably seem less funny when seeing the movie.

The BFG is great movie for families and for those who read Rohld Dahl’s novel, adults and kids are probably going to like it, but I think depending on who happens to go see the movie, they’d like it better if they read the book first, because I think they might either get lost by some of the dialogue or what is going on throughout the film. I give The BFG an 8/10. Just an announcement, nothing is official yet, but I have an idea to review all of the past Star Wars movies, in honor of Rogue One coming out in December. I have no idea when each post will be released, but I’m reviewing each film from The Phantom Menace to The Force Awakens. Stay tuned, because Scene Before is your click to the flicks!