Le bon gros géant

The bar has been set so high for Spielberg movies that anything less than Oscar-level quality is often seen as a failure. However, to judge the BFG along those lines would be a great disservice to a movie that has a great many merits, particularly as a family film. Shed of much of the darkness of Roald Dahl's source material, Spielberg breathes a healthy dose of his magic into The BFG, though it never reaches to the greatness of ET. Spielberg, however, does get some very strong performances from Mark Rylance as the title character and newcomer Ruby Barnhill as the young orphan who befriends the giant. The real star of the movie is probably the spot-on motion capture that brings the giants to life. If you're expecting a groundbreaking film like Raiders of the Lost Ark or a crisply directed work like Catch Me If You Can, you're in the wrong movie. But if you have room for close to two hours (which might be a tad overlong) of sweet, touching fun, you should absolutely consider The BFG.