The BFG2016

53/100 I don't want to talk about this one. What can I even say? Producer man looks up "Best children's books", picks one at random and gets a bunch of famous people to make a bland film out of it. Now, I will give the film some praise first, because it's not bad by any means, and that's thanks in large part to Spielberg deciding to be the one person here who tried. So much of his trademark whimsy is in this film, making even the worst parts easier to bear with the enthusiasm he injects into it. I suspect his influence and direction is also why the film looks so beautiful. Giant Country perfectly balances being a majestic fantasy land of adventure and feeling threatening when required, with some fantastic visuals at times, especially in Dream Country with the Dream Tree. However, with these addressed, we can move on to the movie's flaws, or rather, it's one major flaw in its deviation from the book. The BFG is a story which started as a book, and it's the format it's most suited to, mainly because not a lot happens and in absence of a plot, we get lengthy sections of worldbuilding much more acceptable on page than film. The film is thus forced to deviate from the book, and much for the worse. Humour is injected into scenes where they're entirely unnecessary, especially in the handling of the giants themselves. Instead of fierce villains, they're jokes who are afraid of water for no reason and get hit in the balls by the BFG. There are also a ton of added scenes which do nothing for the story, including some weird twist where the BFG had another kid staying with him before the other giants ate him, which not only adds nothing of value but actually creates a plot hole, as it makes no sense that the BFG didn't confront the other giants then, but does it when they're wrecking his workshop. Overall, this film isn't bad, it has a soul, but that soul is buried under a field of trash it's not worth excavating the worth from. Mediocre overall at best.