Disney and Steven Spielberg have brought Roald Dahl’s beloved THE BFG to life, and the studio has sent over the latest trailer for the film. It opens in Australia on 30 June, but will have its Australian premiere at the Sydney Film Festival on 13 June. it marks the first time that a Spielberg film has appeared at the Festival, perhaps indicating how special this is to fans.
Based on the 1982 book of the same name, it tells the story of a young girl (Ruby Barnhill) and the Giant who introduces her to the wonders and perils of Giant Country. The BFG (Mark Rylance), while a giant himself, is a Big Friendly Giant and nothing like the other inhabitants of Giant Country. The release of the film also marks the 100th anniversary of Dahl’s birth.
For those of us of a certain age, THE BFG has a magical quality to it, and Spielberg’s film will have some giant shoes to fill in terms of expectations. The animation on the titular giant is certainly on the money from the Quentin Blake illustrations, as well as Brian Cosgrove’s 1989 animated TV film adaptation. It’s also great to see Spielberg, once the master of childlike magical realism, dipping firmly back into the territory he was conquering around the time the book first came out.
