Finally saw this myself. While I can't pinpoint why it failed, I can admit that the marketing didn't do much for me, but after seeing it, I can say I enjoyed it very much. I guess they didn't get enough people in the seats to be won over by its charm to then spread enough good word of mouth to help drive audiences to the theater. My while family enjoyed it very much, and none of us had read the book.
Didn't Disney's very recent remake of The Jungle Book make a big hit? Did it do better than The BFG, and if so, who's talking about it now? Media noise buries everything fast.
No comparison, sadly. Jungle Book was colossally profitable. BFG clearly lost a great deal of money when you consider the fraction of the box office the studio gets and how much they must have spent marketing it.
Other than the internet, the only advertising for BFG I've seen anywhere else is via travelling billboards on the sides of the local buses (double deckers). If there's been any other source I've mentally filtered it out, or can't recall seeing it. Lots of movies seem to be hollerin' on four wheels. Come to think of it, on my recent visit to London, most of the buses in the city were featuring movies. In the case of BFG, all the 'stars' are currently out on maximum praise.
I haven't seen the new Jungle Book, but would be interested in seeing how they pulled the rabbit out of the hat on it.
Finally caught up with BFG yesterday, at a second-run movie house in Sarasota. Wanted to see it on a decent screen. A lot of it is beautiful to look at, particularly the "Tree of Dreams" sequence. But, overall, I found it too self-aware, with a tone that kept changing. Like the opinion above, it totally lost me when the Queen was brought in, since that changed the tone yet again. From a vaguely presented time period, post-war, I thought, from the cars moving around, we are suddenly catapulted into the Reagan era, though that was only for one throwaway line. And there always seemed to be violence off-camera, such as: what became of those lost children? I can guess. And yet, the other giants are left on an isolated island, in an attempt by the filmmakers to give them a comic reckoning.
The only aspect that really worked for me was Mark Rylance in the title role; he brought real character to the piece. The little girl I found pretty generic, and not particularly memorable. Even the Williams score didn't seem among his top-drawer efforts.
As I was watching this, I kept hoping this is not the last effort from its creators. Because THE BFG would mean that the Spielberg/Williams partnership would be going out not with a bang, but a whimper.
And, yes, I agree with everyone here, it's certainly better than all the superhero drivel being shoveled at us nowadays, but that alone doesn't make it a great movie.
Spielberg has made 2 motion capture films and they both were totally uninvolving. I fell asleep during TIN TIN and BFG lost my interest almost immediately.
The only emotion I felt watching the dvd was the moving tribute to Melissa Mathisson. bruce
ps there is an animated version on dvd. Think I will check it out to compare
I enjoyed it overall, but can see why it failed to click (it's never TERMINAL terrible though).
... the Queen/Buckingham Palace scenes were great and provided the best laughs I've had in the cinema all year. For a kids/E.T style Spielberg film, it lacked heart. I never really cared.
Spielberg has made 2 motion capture films and they both were totally uninvolving. I fell asleep during TIN TIN and BFG lost my interest almost immediately.
The only emotion I felt watching the dvd was the moving tribute to Melissa Mathisson. bruce
ps there is an animated version on dvd. Think I will check it out to compare
"Tintin" is ONE word. I'm always about to put my fist through the computer screen every fucking time I see someone on this board spell it "Tin tin."
Meanwhile, I'll be seeing BFG soon. I hope it's OK, although I don't expect it to be in competition for my top 10 of the year. (btw, I've already listened to the CD; the score is enjoyable latter-day Williams.)
I've been catching up on a LOT of this year's movies, thanks to the DGA screeners arriving daily. I saw The Jungle Book - a real hit-em-over-the head lesson film with not an iota of the fun the original cartoon had or even the Sabu movie. La La Land - this year's "it" movie - it looks pretty but if I want to watch a Jacques Demy film I'll watch a Jacques Demy film. I do love how it's being called an old-fashioned musical - when a film doesn't have a musical number for the final third of the film (until the finale), it's not really a musical in the traditional sense. Nor are its stars song and dance people - they are painful to listen to. Arrival - I liked it okay, mostly because of Amy Adams. A Monster Calls - I liked it, too. And on and on. And tonight I watched The BFG, having had not much knowledge about it at all. I choose not to pontificate on films I haven't seen or scores I haven't heard.
So, I'll just be that guy - I loved every minute of it. And you won't find the word twee, which I find twee, in this post. Mark Rylance should be up for an Oscar - he outacts the pants off everyone else. It actually has a SCRIPT by an actual really good writer. It has Mr. Spielberg, who knows how to tell a story and direct a movie. It has a lovely performance by the young girl and a fun performance by Penelope Wilton. It was even touching at times. And, wait for it, it has a SCORE - you know, a SCORE that actually functions as movie music used to - not as sound design or pad, but actually UNDERSCORING the story. Yeah, that kind of score - John Williams - still has it. Not in the very top tier, but a wonderful score nonetheless.
But I got news for you - if ET came out today, it would flop just like this film. Period. Flop. And everyone would blame it on the title, too. And the marketing. I blame it on the world in which we live. I heartily recommend this. There, I've said it and I'm glad and as Mammy Yokum would say, "I has spoken."
I've been catching up on a LOT of this year's movies, thanks to the DGA screeners arriving daily. I saw The Jungle Book - a real hit-em-over-the head lesson film with not an iota of the fun the original cartoon had or even the Sabu movie. La La Land - this year's "it" movie - it looks pretty but if I want to watch a Jacques Demy film I'll watch a Jacques Demy film. I do love how it's being called an old-fashioned musical - when a film doesn't have a musical number for the final third of the film (until the finale), it's not really a musical in the traditional sense. Nor are its stars song and dance people - they are painful to listen to. Arrival - I liked it okay, mostly because of Amy Adams. A Monster Calls - I liked it, too. And on and on. And tonight I watched The BFG, having had not much knowledge about it at all. I choose not to pontificate on films I haven't seen or scores I haven't heard.
So, I'll just be that guy - I loved every minute of it. And you won't find the word twee, which I find twee, in this post. Mark Rylance should be up for an Oscar - he outacts the pants off everyone else. It actually has a SCRIPT by an actual really good writer. It has Mr. Spielberg, who knows how to tell a story and direct a movie. It has a lovely performance by the young girl and a fun performance by Penelope Wilton. It was even touching at times. And, wait for it, it has a SCORE - you know, a SCORE that actually functions as movie music used to - not as sound design or pad, but actually UNDERSCORING the story. Yeah, that kind of score - John Williams - still has it. Not in the very top tier, but a wonderful score nonetheless.
But I got news for you - if ET came out today, it would flop just like this film. Period. Flop. And everyone would blame it on the title, too. And the marketing. I blame it on the world in which we live. I heartily recommend this. There, I've said it and I'm glad and as Mammy Yokum would say, "I has spoken."
I can get behind this. Psychologically. I think the huge problem with the film itself is that it seems to start "in progress." A short prologue would have helped this movie immeasurably.
Kimmel's got it right on this one. This is a Terry Gilliam-type of film done by Spielberg, which I found very humane and funny. The Deadpool/Batman v. Superman/Captain America: Civil War/Rogue One crowd simply can't comprehend it.
And with a resurgent John Williams score the package is complete.
There is much evidence out there that indicates America has forgotten how to laugh at itself, a process this movie encourages.
