The BFG: Early reviews of new Steven Spielberg family film arrive from Cannes
It's a mixed response for the directing maestro's Roald Dahl adaptation
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No one can make a family film quite like Steven Spielberg.
The directing maestro - whether through sci-fi (E.T.) or adventure (Indiana Jones) - has managed to unite families on multiple occasion throughout his illustrious career (yes, even with Hook).
So with new Disney film The BFG - an adaptation of Roald Dahl's beloved classic - has he managed to echo successes of the past?
The film, starring Mark Rylance and newcomer Ruby Barnhill, has been screened to critics at this year's Cannes Film Festival ahead of its premiere tonight (14 May) - and the results are mixed.
Responding positively to the film was The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw who reserved the majority of his praise for Rylance, stating he "absolutely makes the movie what it is."
While Variety echoed Bradshaw's sentiments, branding the film an "instant family classic," Screen International's Tim Grierson believes that Spielberg simply retreads old material he's covered more successfully in the past.
Check back here soon for The Independent's very own review.
The Guardian - Peter Bradshaw - 4/5
"The BFG is big friendly giant of a film from a director who knows how to make films on that note and on that scale. With boldness and sweep, he creates a Spielberg-BFG myth with hints of Oscar Wilde’s selfish giant, Jack and the Beanstalk and the Nutcracker Suite."
"No matter how fantastical the tale (and it gets pretty out-there at points), this splendid Steven Spielberg-directed adaptation makes it possible for audiences of all ages to wrap their heads around one of the unlikeliest friendships in cinema history, resulting in the sort of instant family classic “human beans” once relied upon Disney to deliver."
The Hollywood Reporter - Todd McCarthy
"...the film represents the director in a more pensive, even philosophical vein, less interested in propulsive cinema and more reflective about what would seem to mean the most to him—dreams, and the ability to make them come true. This is what The BFG is about but, unfortunately, that is basically all it’s about and by a considerable measure too explicitly and single-mindedly so."
Screen international - Tim Grierson
Spielberg’s reputation as a master of awe may leave some feeling faintly underwhelmed by The BFG, simply because the movie rarely matches the visual wonders and emotional peaks of his earlier work such as E.T. or Close Encounters Of The Third Kind... As appealing and likeable as The BFG is, the movie doesn’t seem particularly groundbreaking or daring when it comes from Spielberg, who is revisiting his major themes here without necessarily reinventing them.
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"Visually alluring in every frame, The BFG proves that he's at the height of his powers even when the material doesn't soar on quite the same level."
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