Steve Reviews: The BFG (1989) 

At the point where Sophie understood the threat, went straight to the authorities, and the military was sent out and took care of the problem; the first time I read the book I remember thinking "I can't believe it, it never works that way!"

The giants were scary in this film, they weren’t silly, childlike or funny, they were terrifying. Unlike in the live action Spielberg one.

I can't get over how the Queen is so much more realistically drawn compared to the other characters, like its actually hilarious how much she sticks out.

I love how Sofie and the giant don't go on a crazy adventure to fight the giant king or something, they just alert the authorities and the military actually handles it lol.

god, i remember my english teacher reading the book to us in 6th grade, he'd do voices for the characters, read the most intense parts of the chapters and left us on cliffhangers, which just made us excited to read the next chapter, and even put on this movie for us, and we all heavily enjoyed it, next after this was the Hobbit which got me into fantasy and my love for DND, easy to say that my teacher, Mr. P, helped me find my love for literature, fantasy, story writing, and character creation

If you remember this film adaptation, you deserve a veteran's discount.

In the book, the BFG actually keeps dreamcatching, just that he lives in England and has all his dream bottles transported there. The queen also appoints him as England’s official dreamcatcher and he fixes his broken English, writing a book based on his adventures under a different name which is then revealed to be the BFG book itself.

There's something hilarious about this magical, fairy tale kids film just going "Alright, call in the troops!" to solve the giant crisis.

“The BFG is a British-“ Ah shit, better dust off the list of nearby therapists again.

This book, Matilda, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Fantastic Mr Fox were my favourite books as a child. They all got their own movie adaptions, but I'm only now discovering that they made an animated movie of The BFG?!

Fun fact: David Jason liked doing the voice to the BFG so much, that he named his daughter after Sophie in 2001.

"Cats don't kill cats" A female cat of my own killed a neighbour's younger cat; she just bit the back of his neck and bam, kitty no more.

I always loved how NOT condescending Dahl's books were to kids. People died in his books. People who you should have trusted turned out to be selfish, worthless, or just plain mad. I liked how he didn't speak down to kids in his books, all the while still having so much wonder and imagination.

The fact that adults, authority figures and the Queen especially are actually competent and reasonable is refreshing. The film and book both also scared the crap out of young me, especially the line about the three men being eaten alive.

My uncle worked on this movie, doing some of the music, and I always loved this movie and seeing the review I couldn't not watch. Hearing someone else's thoughts on it (and how they enjoyed the musical element) has made me smile today. Great video.

8:24 - I think they were trying to say that the BFG was against eating humans, not meat. Or at least that's the impression that I got from the book. He actually says in the film that Snozzcumbers are the only thing that grows in giant country, and he's too honorable(?) of a giant to go stealing food from humans.

Fun fact! The illustrator for the original book based his illustrations of the BFG on Roald Dahl himself. Dahl liked it so much that he changed the description of the BFG to fit it.

You are right, Queen is on point in this adaptation, so quintessentially British. "Oh dear, giant eating our country's children? That is dreadful indeed. Would you like crumpets or biscuits with your tea?"

I’ve heard an idea before that the bfg is the last of a different giant group, one who smaller than normal giants but is more into helping kids with dreams. Can’t remember to much as it was long ago but I’ve always loved that idea

This is why I didn't like the remake. I literally cried at the end when Sophie is saying goodbye and says she wants to stay with him always, and when he hears it and asks her if it's true and if she really wants to come back with him and they leave together, they turned to tears of joy. I felt nothing/had no reaction to the new one. This one is always superior.

I remember one particularly troubling bit of information in the book. The fact that childrens bones were being discovered under the window seals. That just freaked me out as a kid

I think the BFG was supposed to look menacing to reflect Sophie’s fear and give us a “fear” of what the giant is going to do with Sophie.

This was one of my absolute favourites when I was a kid

It’s definitely one of my favourite animated movies I’ve ever seen. The animation, visuals, music and voice acting was absolutely incredible. It will always hold a special place in my heart.

considering the fact he had only the snozzcumber to eat, he had to go vegetarian in giant land, but i imagine he wouldn’t shy to something that’s not child meat when given the chance

I used to think that when authors don't like how ppl adapted their books into movies, they were being too narcissistic or something but after seeing The Cat in the Hat, I now understand why some movie adaptations of books are flipping hated....

Wow I remember watching this film as a kidd, it was great. However, the scene where the giant ate that boy really disturbed me for ages as a kid. I remember actually having nightmares about it.

I first saw this film in 1999 when my parents stayed in a cabin, near the Dublin mountains in Ireland, for a business trip in the summer. We bought a VHS copy at the airport before we left for back home in the U.S.A. I just remember this film so fondly as an eight-year-old all my friends and classmates loved this film when I brought it in

Steve: "'Uh, I dunno, let's go see the Queen, I guess?" like she's some kind of well-known superhero." Me, an intellectual: "Well yes. That's because she is."

Loved this as a kid - they did a great job of translating the horror in the book to images. It's a shame more of Roald Dahl's work hasn't been accurately turned into animation - kids need a bit of mild peril every now and then, The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me would have been a perfect Burton-esque kids movie, there's even a part where they all eat Wonka candy with magical effects..

The film and the book are both such enjoyable stories, the animation especially the dream sequences and the way the BFG’s cloak looks as he’s sneaking around London. I love that Dahl’s stories always had very magical, dreamlike situations and made children not feel condescension from adults for the their young, impressionable age. Rest In Peace Dahl.

5:30 I am perpetually impressed by how creative cinematographers can get with in-camera effects like this.

That was the whole point of the scene where The BFG kidnapped Sophie to make him as scary as possible before he reveals his True Friendly Colors. I've seen The original animated BFG a million times since I discovered it accidentally while looking for The Spielberg Remake. That scene where Sophie sees him outside her window for the first time still gives me goosebumps

Never gets old seeing these old movies reviewed, always has good variety.

''You can't just shoot a hole into the surface of the BFG!'' -Samuel.

I found it hilarious that the Generals actually wanted to bomb the giants, only for the Queen to say no to it. The BFG I can understand because those are his people but come on Queenie, kids are getting snacked on.

In Sophie's defense about getting mad at the BFG, She is only a kid.

God I remember this film. One of the more faithful adaptations of Dahl's works and has an incredible musical score that I still remember fondly to this day.

I agree with you when you said, the giants needed more time on screen. We only saw Bloodbottler and Fleshlumpeater. I would love to imagine Meatdripper entering the Bfgs house. His design is epic.

There's just something about old colourful, fuzzy light effects that just hits me in the feels, this and NIMH I watched nonstop as a kid because they were just so pretty!

Steve, please consider reviewing Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade (1999). It's an incredible anime film in all aspects and examines some very heavy themes. I think you'd love it. It's often overlooked and deserves more recognition.

beloved book of my childhood. difficult to reconcile the works that truly touched me in my formative years with the reality of the man that made them.

This was one of my favourite films as a kid, my grandma had it on VHS and whenever I was ill and was at her house, I’d watch it with her, it’s really nice to know it still holds up to the standard I remembered

I've had the book read to me years ago. One of the things I remember is how the travelling between Giant country and the human world works. Basically the BFG just says that he walks in any direction for a while and he just kind of ends back up in Giant Country and vice versa. Sort of like how he doesn't exactly understand it himself, but doesn't really question it.

I am very fond of Roald Dahl (as is my daughter) and cannibal giants and songs about flatulence are pretty typical for Roald Dahl (who was a bit of a weirdo) The animation is quite good for a children's cartoon from the 1980's, with a rather interesting muted pallette, and yes...if you are dealing with a supernatural threat like cannibal giants, it pays to alert the Queen because she is very old and wise and has powerful magic because she keeps the Elven ring Nenya in her purse.

List of things you should watch: - fehérlófia - Alice (Swankmajer) - animerama trilogy (one thousand and one nights + kureopatra + belladonna of sadness) - 1001 nights (Yoshitaka Amano) - yellow submarine - allegro non troppo (expecially the bolero segment) - Heavy metal - Aliens, flamingos & ecstasy - cat cindarella (Alessandro Rak) - the art of happines (Alessandro Rak) - the breadwinner - atama yama - Fantasia - Azur et Asmal - kirikou and the sorceress - where the dead go to die - the Adventures of Mark Twain - fantastic planet - waking life - I married a strange person - cat soup + Nekojirou theatre (you should watch nekojirou theatre first) - genji monogatari - genius party beyond - robot carnival - son smeshnogo cheloveka - waltz with Bashir - Chico & Rita - where's my body - Samson and Sally - neo Tokyo - Yolo: Crystal fantasy - $9.99 - it's such a beautiful day - anomalisa

I was today years old when I found out that Del Boy from Only Fools played the original BFG Thanks for telling us and great review

Crazy how they did an entire movie about the gun from Doom

I saw this as a little kindergarten duckling in school in a room with the lights off, sitting on the floor with the other ducklings, and it actually traumatized me. Like, kept me up in the wee hours of the morning traumatized. Seriously, how horrifying it would be just to be eaten by a giant strolling in the night while you slept? You're a kid who probably had a good day at school, had a nice, good dinner. Family wind-down time was fun, you got all your homework done, looking forward to some event at school tomorrow, and you're having a good dream. Then because you're just that gawddam unlucky enough that some random giant out from nowhere from another plane of existence was hungry, you never wake up again. Never even known you were consumed just to become giant doo-doo, and you never got to grow up? And your parent's fears will come true, and they will always wonder what happened to you, hoping you're unharmed---- but absolutely nothing they could ever imagine would come close to what your fate actually was? Almost as scary as that crap-your-pants-spooky-as-all fark cloak that can turn you into stone from that Snow White Happily Ever After movie. Also, I always thought Sophie looked like a girl Arnold from the Magic School Bus.

I watched this at my Grandma's house when I was a child, and I was staying the night there, when I went to go to sleep I was scared a giant was going to come reach into the window of the room and snatch me up and eat me, I think I even had a nightmare of it but can't remember, but still a pretty nostalgic film to me to this day

When I was at Uni, some friends and I got baked and talked about the subtext conspiracy theories for this book. It was around the time of the whole Jimmy Saville/Prince Andrew stuff and it got wild. Roald Dahl was ex military, rather stubbornly English, accentric and reclusive. A spy during the war, a knight of the realm etc. He had a rather unique insight behind the curtain of the British secrets of the nation and the high society. What if he was a self insert for the BFG, his granddaughter Sophie being her namesake and the other Giants being an allegory for Savilles, Glitter, Harris and Windsors. He had to protect her from certain predators until he writes them to go directly to the Queen to sort the problem. Then the ever present danger is sorted. Could of been a very thickly veiled whistleblow/wishful thinking for a solution on the sickness at the heart of the untouchable and holes in the child protective services, using the example of the one child who he held most dear to him to represent how anyone could fall prey to it if they weren't looked out for. It kind of changed the way I watched this childhood classic.

This was the movie we would watch when we went to our grandparents because it was the only children's VHS they owned. Our other grandparents had BaBar, Fantasia and Rupert the bear to choose from. Like the VHS/DVD days were wild - you were severely limited in entertainment options compared to nowadays where as long as there's an internet connection you can watch just about anything at any time.

This movie doesn't have the scene from the middle of the book where the BFG unleashes the nightmare on ALL the sleeping giants and they start freaking out in their sleep that they're being hunted by Jack the famous giant killer. As in Jack from Jack and the Beanstalk.

Sophie was originally going to be animated using the rotoscoping technique, but then the studio found that Jean Flynn and Meryl Edge could animate her without needing the technique.

This was one of me and my mum's favourite films we used to watch together. I remember her singing the dream country song to me since I struggled sleeping. As an adult, the film's actually ok and I'm very surprised by that, most film's you watched as a kid can be a completely different experience when you're an adult. One thing I'm more surprised by is the score, it sounds amazing for a TV movie especially the helicopter flight to giant country, BFG taking Sophie through the vortex and the main theme. Really high quality and great to listen to.

The evil giants in this film gave me such intense nightmares for about a year as a kid and I refused to ever open my curtains (even in daylight) in case I saw an evil giant outside my window!! I only saw it that once and I think I was about 6 or 7 but the movie definitely stayed with me! Great review and watching this is brilliant way for me to help get over my trauma from over 20 years ago!

Also it would have been nice to actually find out which giant is which as the only two we know who is who is Bloodbottler and Fleshlumpeater. The other giant's names are actually mentioned in the film and book: Bonecruncher, Childchewer, Butcher Boy, Gizzardgulper, Meatdripper, Manhugger, Maidmasher. But we don't know which one is which.

Fun fact: The voice of the army general is Ballard Berkeley ( the major from Fawlty Towers)

A comparison of this to the live action would -definitely- be something we'd love to see!

Yeah, the giant's voice fits him perfectly. He's got that Duckula/Mr. Toad charm after all (considering he did both of them in the 80s)

This was my favorite animated side by side with ,,Cats Don’t Dance”.

i've seen this many times as a kid and i must say. This animated movie with David Jason as the BFG is much better then the Live-Action/Animation one with the music by John Williams. This film never gets old.

I loved the book as a kid. Even though I was never really a bookworm and hated reading Dahl's book still managed to peak my interest and helped me to better my reading skills. I've never seen this movie, but I did see the live action made a few years back and was disappointed in it. This on the other hand seems like a really good film and I love it's style!

Hey Steve! I think you’ll love this animated film called “Bread Winner”. It gets really dark and emotional at times but it’s overall a beautiful film.

" Sophie stop trying to be a character " 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 damn

8:50 I have no idea how Steve didn't recognise David Jason's voice, it's so distinctive and he was voice acting loads back in them days: Danger Mouse, Count Duckula and best of all Toad from Cosgrove Hall's film adaption and *amazing* sequel TV series of The Wind In The Willows (same company who made this film.) I could tell it was Jason when I was a kid in the 80s/90s, oh well.

I loved this film and the audio book back when I was a child. So glad it still holds up today :) I'll always adore those lighting effects for the dream world as well

OH!!!! THIS JUST HIT WITH NOSTGIA! I use to watch the shit out of this as a kid! This, the snow queen (with Helen Miriam), the princess and the goblin and a monkey's tale were the animated films I would watch over and over again.

I never noticed the Danger Mouse poster in the child's bedroom. Now that's a clever Easter egg.

I really can't thank you enough for making this review. I was so in love with the movie back when I was a kid, but over the years I simply just seem to have forgotten about it. So thanks for the reminder. I'll watch it in a minute, when my download is ready and my cousin is here,because that brings back the best of childhood memories ♡♡♡

It's the early 1980s and I am in third grade and our librarian is reading this story to us and as Roald Dahl precedes to terrify the ever-loving hell out of me I then begin to appreciate things later on in life like Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett and Monty Python so thank you Roald Dahl actually guided my life to where it is in the things that I love today and Giants eating children is Just A Life Lesson isn't it? LOL

Damn the animation quality in this film aged well

If you’re looking for a Dark Children’s movie, I highly recommend The Prince of Egypt, and watch the review by Josh Keefe as it offers a really amazing perspective on the film and its message!

It’s not that bad or that horror it’s just super interesting seeing something made from an old 1980s and 1990s style animation where technology wasn’t that highly good that’s why I want to live in those times

9:25 this is just perfection

After all these years i think:"how much years does it actually take to dig a pit that is deep enough to contain all these giants if it where real life?" That's a lot of digging!

the BFG being voiced by Del-Boy really showcases his versatility as an actor

Roald Dahl's books are defo absolute classics, BFG, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, Fantastic Mr fox, Danny Champion of the world, Witches etc. Film's good too.

Wish I could tell Steve how happy he makes me whenever he uploads

Can we just remember how good only fools and horses is.

I read the Roald Dahl books during primary school, it was kind of compulsory back then 😂

From what I remember, the BFG DOES use a nightmare on the giants in the book. One of them mentions a beanstalk, referring to Jack and the Beanstalk, wherein Jack defeated a giant.

The nostalgia is tremendous! As is the terror! Also the VHS became snozcumber as i watched it so often.

The Queen’s deadpan/blank “I beg your pardon” never fails to get me

18:55 Nice to see Nigel Thornberry's relatives work on such an important job

The tunnel scene used to scare me into hiding behind the sofa as a kid. The combination of the deep music and eeiry visuals were too much for me. This, Watership Down and lots of childhood trauma involving dead pets and my parents fighting is why I can pretty much handle anything scary as an adult.

This film is probably one of my all time favourites, glad you reviewed it

The film was a huge part of my childhood. I’d always watch it. I used to stay up at night to see if I could see the BFG 😆 This movie will always have a special place in my heart. I liked the 2016 remake, and I recommend giving it a go. But the original will always be number 1 for me. Thank you for going over this film 💜

THE BIG FRIGGIN GUN! 1989

I loved the book as a child- this honestly seems like a pretty accurate adaptation- probably why Dahl approved of it.

The Batman and Robin parody had me in stitches.

It's been years since I last saw this! Every clip was a smack in the nostalgia part of my brain, I remember seeing this soooo many times, i'm sure my mum hated it after a while lmao

Cosgrove Hall Films deserves more attention for giving us masterpieces like this film!

Fun Fact: There has been 22 recorded incidents of chimps spear hunting

"You fucking what mate" -the queen

When I was 5 we used to get this movie from the library all the time. I loved it, but the giant eating the kids scene definitely freaked me out at the time. Also I’d love to see you compare the two movie adaptations.

Hey, Steve, I have some ideas for some possible movies for some future review videos. Like : - the famous "Balto '' movie, released in 1995 and realised by Simon Wells, produced by Amblin Entertainment (via her Amblimation filiade) and distributed by Universal Studio, with Kevin Bacon in the main role. Taken his main plotline from a real famous event and characters from 1925, it's a movie which was a little box office failure (he wins 11 million dollars in total) at its release caused by the concurrence with Toy Story and Jumanjio the same years and dates. But it has a great reception and is well criticized by great and popular sites and magazines. Even if today, he is a little forgotten by some, this movie is still considered by many like a big (non-disney) classic animation movie and one of last of this kind during a period of transaction into our today's productions with the arrival of the 3D animation with the release of Toy Story. For more context, Amblimation was closed 2 years laters and the majority of the employes were transferings into Dreamwork SKG Picture studio, created in 1994 mainly by Steven Spielberg himself (who was one of the producers executives in this movie) and mainly into the Animation department of Dreamwork, Dreamwork Animation, witch Amblimation closed the doors precisely so that this departement could opens, and witch will made a name for itself in the field of the animation from the 2000s with his movies "Shrek", "Kung Fu Panda" and "How To Train a Dragon" saga (to quote only) and like a big real competitor for Disney. Even today, this film is still one of my favorite children's movies I often saw when I was a child. - "Dinosaurs" (2000) from Disney, a film mixing 3D animation and real shots (like the famous "Walking with Dinosaurs" series and related productions series) about a dinosaurs named Aladar, an gentle, brave and courageous Iguanodon, who is raised by lemurs on an isolated island who is obligated to escape with his adopted family after a comet destroy the island, and meet a herd of herbivorous dinosaurs, leading by an other Iguanodon named Kron, his entire opposite in all, and his sister Neera, who he will fall in love, and who try to rejoin a safely home while they are in a dangerous, hard and merciful world dominated by carnivores. This movie was a little disney, like the Lion King movie was wanted to be in the base before he obtained his surprising success and popularity, and was a little success in Box office and obtained well reviews and criticism too. Even today this movie is still a big movie in the minds of many, especially for the dinosaurs fan in general, and was really a big movie in many aspects, humour, actions, moments of fear. For the anecdote, it was this movie who introduced the Carnotaurus specie into the public, and it's with mainly thank to this movie the he is one of the most popular dinosaurs today, and it's because this appearance that the 2001 movie Jurassic Park 3 put the Ceratosaurus specie in replacement of Carnotaurus who was originally thought. - "Dot and the Kangaroo" (1977), an australian musical film which combines 2D animation and live-action footage, based on the eponym 1899 children's literature book by Ethel Pedley, and produced by Yoram Gross Film. It's about a young Australian girl who is lost in the Australian bush and meets a female kangaroo which introduces her to the environment and endemic and emblematic animals that surround them. This film was the first film of a long movie series with the same human character with many other animals and which all mainly addresses the themes of human society and its negative impact on animal life and nature, and shows by the same time the local culture of the aboriginal people.This first movie was very well received by critics and was a huge success at his release. All the music and ost is great, especially, for my part, the Bunyips song at the middle of the movie. The entire film (not well known today, a little obscure) is on RU-vid, here a link : ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-kTg3wV3DnGY.html. - "Free Birds" (2013), an 3D americain film with Owen Wilson and Woody Harrelson in the two main characters, about Reggie and Jake, two turkeys who try to save all the turkeys by going back in time (with a travel machine named STEVE) to prevent Thanksgiving and remove their species from the menu. It is really funny, a big comedy humour movie. A shame that it is a little movie and a little obscure production today but still a good enjoyable movie to watch. - "The Wild" (2006) a little animated by computer movie in 3D by Disney, about a New York Central Park Zoo lion named Samson, who try to save his son, Ryan, after this later go in a travel into the wildlife to prove himself he a great lion, with his friend : His best friend Benny the squirrel, Bridget the giraffe (and love interest of Benny), Larry the Anaconda and Nigel a Koala who are alway pissed off that we find him cute. It contains many references and parodies to the Lion king movie. He has a moderate release and criticisms, but he is mainly know to be in problem with the famous and appreciate Madagascar's first movie release one years before by Dreamworks, and accused of plagiarism (like between "Fourmiz" with "A Bug's Life" in 1998 and "Shark Tales" with "Finding Nemo" in 2003, who are all another movie you should see and review too). It's still a correct movie, and even has Jim Carrey in a secondary role (Blag, the wildebeest). That's all, I hope that you will review these films someday. There many others a little forget who nevertheless deserves to be put back on the front of the stage. You realise a very good job on your videos. Very good work, and continue like you alway do! Thanks a lot!

I’ pretty sure the BFG continued to catch and give children good dreams in the book too. He just lived in England rather than Giant Country while doing that. Dream Country is the same distance from Giant Country as it is from England. You can’t find Dream Land on a map and you can’t be given directions, you just have to feel the right way to go and that’s how the BFG gets there

someone out there is having way too much fun watching those bath scenes... and the very fact that I had to say that is enough reason for why I'm moving to Pandora

I had completely forgotten about this movie. But once I saw that giant in the thumbnail, an underlying dread filled my senses. I remember now.