Roald Dahl's The BFG (Big Friendly Giant)

I purchased this video to use in my classroom. Every year, we read the book then watch this video to compare and contrast the two. My students love it..and so do I! One day, I brought it home to watch. My 3 year old grandson was terrified! That's when I realized that some of the scenes can be frightening for very small children, especially the scenes with the giants in them. I was so used to showing it to older children, I didn't think about how it would be perceived by a toddler. :-( It is a wonderful video and the story is great (as is everything that Roald Dahl writes)! Love this movie!

This is my favorite children's book of all time. In fact, I've read it to all 19 of the classes I've taught. It is hysterically funny, but also teaches a nice lesson about how humans treat one another as well as how we treat those that are different from us. It has led to many quality discussions with many of my classes.

I purchased this movie for the class that I work in. The kids had just finished reading the book. So, I thought it would be fun to see the movie as well. The class enjoyed pointing out the differences of the book versus the movie. It was definitely a big hit!

This animated film complements the book, but there's no reason to recommend it otherwise. The animation is jerky, and there's a lot of panning across still background shots. The animators used flashy, blinking lights to illustrate scenes of wonder (e.g., the BFG's dream collection; the bridge to Dream Country), but to my modern eyes, this is a poor attempt to avoid spending the money to actually fill those scenes with wonder. (Budgetary constraints, probably.)The worst problem is the sound quality. The sound levels are off (I can't explain exactly how), making it difficult to understand the dialog. If you aren't familiar with the story already, you'll have a hard time following the plot because you simply can't hear what's happening. Likewise, during the two musical numbers, it's hard to understand the lyrics. (Aside: why two songs? It's not a musical, so why insert two songs? Based on the quality of those bits, I'd say it was a way to fill some time without spending much of the animation budget.)The plot differs from the book in some ways, but nothing too major.So how does it fair with the target audience? My five-year-old, who loved the BFG book, said he liked the movie even better. I noticed that he got bored and distracted during much of the movie, but that's normal for a five-year-old. He enjoyed it so much he watched it again the next day.

I read this book many years ago and I remember watching this movie a couple times when I was young. I'm so glad I got it because I can't stop watching it! It seems like a child's movie and it is, but it's perfect for everyone! If you haven't seen it, I recommend it!

I love this movie. I use it every year in the classroom to do a comparison with the book. It is fun to see the students pick out the similarities and differences. Great story of courage and friendship.

I read this book every year with my 4th grade class. This year I thought we would watch the movie and practice comparing and contrasting the book and the movie. I was very disappointed in the movie. There's really nothing wrong with it, it's just not at all close to the book. It you're looking for a cute children's movie, it's okay but it you want to see Roald Dahl's "The BFG" you'll have to wait for another version.

My grandson loved this book and the others as well