BFG spoilers ahead
Took my daughter to watch BFG today. It's a really fun movie for kids and a pretty faithful adaptation of the old Roald Dahl book (which my daughter is currently reading
). But the main difference that stood out in my mind is that this movie makes the story more "geographically insular," and much of a the violence (i.e. giants eating humans) is implied rather than explicitly stated. In the book, the giants are kidnapping and eating humans, especially children, from around the world, whereas in this film it only seems to be happening in England. Also, while the human alliance with the BFG and military offensive against the giants in the book is spearheaded by England, it is still done with international collaboration with a coalition of forces from different countries invading giant country. In the film it's purely British forces. I wonder if the
British Tourism board had anything to do with it. The fate of the giants is also more pleasant (and probably realistic) than the book; rather than being imprisoned in a pit in England and being fed snozzcumbers, the giants are instead dumped on a remote island and given snozzcumber seeds so that they can self-sufficiently grow the crops themselves for subsistence. Also, the final fate of the BFG and Sophie is different; there is no castle built for the BFG with Sophie's cottage next door - instead the BFG returns to giant country (as he is now the only giant there) where he has created a massive vegetable garden with new crops imported from Britain. Sophie now lives with the Queen in Buckingham Palace. Initially I thought that this wasn't as nice an ending, thinking that the BFG deserved to have his own castle... but upon reflection one could see it as an arguable improvement over the book's ending. The idea that the BFG need not conform to human societal standards (and odds are that if he did live in England he would be viewed as a freak, which the movie points out is one of the BFG's greatest fears in terms of human interaction), but rather he is allowed to live his own life and continue his work as a dream catcher. The Royal Breakfast scene is also different in that the BFG shares his frobscottle with his human hosts (with hilarious results). The generals are also far more receptive of the BFG than in the book. So there does seem to be a somewhat greater sense of acceptance and tolerance over any impetus for societal conformity. But otherwise the movie is actually really good adaptation, often with many lines being identical to what's written in the book.
Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime
BFG spoilers ahead
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