海角大神

'The BFG' never sustains liftoff

'BFG' stars Ruby Barnhill as Sophie, a young orphan who is plucked from her orphanage in the middle of the night by a 26-foot friendly giant (Mark Rylance).

Steven Spielberg鈥檚 鈥淭he BFG,鈥� adapted by the late Melissa Mathison from the 1982 Roald Dahl novel, harks back, thematically if not favorably, to 鈥淓.T.鈥� It鈥檚 about Sophie (Ruby Barnhill), a spunky, bespectacled 8-year-old orphan from central London who is plucked from her forbidding orphanage in the middle of the night by a 26-foot giant with a spindly neck, sharp nose, and floppy ears, played by a special effects-enhanced Mark Rylance. (From some angles, he resembles a sky-high Sean Penn.) Sophie had the misfortune of opening the curtains and spotting the skulking giant through her window, and so, fearing she will reveal his existence to humans, he whisks her to his secret underground cave in a remote area inhabited by giants far less fond than he.

The giant, you see, is, as Sophie soon dubs him, a BFG 鈥� big, friendly giant. After a suitable interval in which she pleads to return to the orphanage, it becomes clear she is happier with the BFG, who at least cares for her and doesn鈥檛 dole out punishments. Unlike the other giants nearby, who have names like Meatdripper and Fleshlumpeater, the BFG is not a carnivore. But the Neanderthal-looking yowlers who populate the barren terrain sense fresh meat and so Sophie, with the flustery BFG鈥檚 aid, must periodically hide away on a moment鈥檚 notice.聽

The BFG, whose diction is a mash-up of quasi-nonsensical English that at times recalls Lewis Carroll鈥檚 locutions 鈥� fizzy water, for example, is 鈥渇robscottle鈥� 鈥� occupies his time collecting and storing dreams in glowing bottles in the recesses of his cave. These dreams are mostly blissful, but they can be frightening, too, and it is Sophie鈥檚 brainstorm to combat the bad giants by instilling them with bad dreams, with the assist, as it turns out, of no less than the Queen of England (Penelope Wilton) and her military minions. (The time is the 1980s.)

Dreamworks is the name of the studio Spielberg cofounded, and clearly he sees himself as a kind of dreamcatcher. When his movies are really soaring, as in 鈥淓.T.鈥� and 鈥淐lose Encounters of the Third Kind,鈥� that鈥檚 exactly what he is. For such a phenomenally savvy director, he still seeks to retain a core of childlike wonder, a sense of mission: Movies are our ribbon of dreams and he wants us to dream our way to a better place.聽

Try as he might, though, Spielberg never sustains liftoff in 鈥淭he BFG.鈥� This material is probably too typecast for him now; the childlike wonder seems processsed. With his extraordinary facility, he can turn out a film like 鈥淭he BFG鈥� and, at least superficially, it seems like a classic. But true kidcentric classics 鈥� like 鈥淓.T.鈥� or Carroll Ballard鈥檚 鈥淭he Black Stallion,鈥� which was also written by Mathison 鈥� are not as doggedly one-note as this film. 鈥淐lassic鈥� should not be mistaken for monotonous, and it was always Spielberg鈥檚 great gift to infuse his fantasias with fun. 鈥淭he BFG鈥� is best not when we are held captive with Sophie and the BFG as he intones his ditties and speaks of 鈥渢he secret whisperings of the world.鈥� It鈥檚 best when Sophie, in her finest schoolmarmish mode, chides the BFG for ingesting a fizzy bottle of frobscottle and letting loose a whizzpopper.聽

Obviously Spielberg does not see it the way I do. The comic scenes in 鈥淭he BFG,鈥� which also include some very funny goings-on in Buckingham Palace, are adroitly handled. (The BFG, accidentally smashing an antique chandelier with his head, introduces himself to the bemused Queen as 鈥測our humbug servant.鈥�) But clearly his heart is with the dreamcatcher stuff. And for that to work, it would have been better if a child with a more poetic force field than first-timer Barnhill had been cast. Barnhill does nothing conspicuously wrong, but she鈥檚 too dutiful a performer. In some ways, she seems more artificially concocted than Rylance鈥檚 CGI BFG.聽

Rylance gives a rueful rendition of the friendly giant. We can see how dashed he is by the sorrows of the world. The solitariness of his life is not easily dispelled, not even by Sophie at her most Mary Poppins-ish. I think that Rylance鈥檚 brooding performance represents the ways in which Spielberg was hoping to deepen this fable. (In Dahl鈥檚 book, the BFG is far more antic.)聽

If there is not enough fun in 鈥淭he BFG,鈥� it鈥檚 telling that there is also not enough fear. The cannibal giants are galumphing grotesques who are never shown (unlike in Dahl) eating any human 鈥渂eans.鈥� The obverse of childhood wonderment is childhood cold sweats, and Spielberg, not wishing to roil the dreamweaver scenario, keeps the upsets to a minimum. He doesn鈥檛 want to 鈥渃heapen鈥� the bliss. The result is that the wonderment, with nothing serious at risk, seems lackluster. There is more going on behind the curtain than this sweet but insubstantial fable allows for. Grade: B- (Rated PG for action/peril, some scary moments and brief rude humor.)