FoW: The BFG (1989)

(c) Roald Dahl.

One of Roald Dahl's most delightful stories gets a CGI upgrade this weekend, with Steven Spielberg's The BFG in theaters today. Many of us may have read the classic tale of the Big Friendly Giant, but some of us may be familiar with an animated version from our youth, the Cosgrove Hall 1989 made-for-television film, The BFG.

The BFG (1989) Title Card. (c) Cosgrove Hall.

This isn't the special effects smorgasbord of today, but a clever and entertaining adaptation of a truly great story. At the time, a critic for The Sunday Times claimed that the film put Cosgrove Hall into "the Disney class" (Stoddard). This first adaptation kept much of Dahl's book, such as Dream Country and the distribution of dreams; Fleshlumpeater Giant, the largest and most fearsome of the giant bullies; and, perhaps most importantly, the fizzy drink called a Frobscottle, that causes the drink to flatulate (read: fart) and fly.

The animation is traditional 2D animation, something we see little of these days. The character designs follow the illustrations Roald Dahl included in his book, with minor overall changes, especially to Sophie's design. Part of traditional animation that I miss is the contrast design between characters and their surroundings; as you can see above, the characters are colored and animated differently than the wall behind them, which resembles a painting. Many scenes have this gorgeous artwork, a feast for the eyes behind the nicely animated action in the foreground. Although the overall animation might not stand up to our standards today, the film remains popular, receiving regular releases through the years. In fact, Universal Studios Home Entertainment UK released a digitally restored DVD and Blu-Ray combo, in widescreen no less, earlier this year.

There is a lot to be said for animated villains in the 1980s and 1990s; the evil giants, for instance, remind me a lot of gargoyles or even other monstrous Disney characters. What strikes me most for these villains, though, is not only how different their design is from the BFG, but how they are punished in the end. This is a film intended for children and, therefore, despite its darkness, there are restraints to how far the film can go. Suffice it to say, I'm slightly disappointed with the ending, which differs from the book.

Check out the trailer above, and if you really want to watch the movie, here's a sneaky version online. I'm excited to see The BFG this weekend and compare it to one of my favorite author's books, but I will also have this adaptation in the back of my mind, a movie I remember rewinding on VHS all too often.

Have you seen Cosgrove Hall's The BFG (1989)? Are you going to see Steven Spielberg's The BFG this weekend?