Roald Dahl Film Adaptations: Ranked From Worst To Best

8. The BFG

Aired on ITV for Christmas 1989, this animated TV movie was made by Cosgrove Hall, the popular British studio responsible for such much loved TV cult hits as Count Duckula and Danger Mouse. Director Brian Cosgrove brought along the studio's go-to voice star David Jason to play the eponymous Big Friendly Giant and he is very much the star of this broadly faithful adaptation of one of the author's latter books. Unfortunately, while the BFG himself is a characterful piece of animation and voice acting, the rest of the cast feel a little flat. Protagonist Sophie, inspired by the novelist's granddaughter Sophie (now the famous curvy model/TV cook), is lacking some of her book counterpart's charm and individuality, figuratively as well as literally overshadowed by her oversized co-star The supporting cast of vicious maneating monstrous giants is appropriately scary for an intended audience of very young children, but a slightly older audience may find them lacking in the various individual grotesqueries imagined in Dahl's evocative prose. The animation, meanwhile, is a good example of strong 1980s TV animation, but a little lifeless and unambitious compared with cinematic rivals. In all, while the Cosgrove Hall BFG is a solidly decent screen adaptation for fans of Dahl's book, it seems likely that the upcoming Steven Spielberg version starring Mark Rylance will bring a greater sense of scale, ambition and wonder.