Just like the previous review I had sat until the early hours of the morning writing one of my longest reviews ever and then today I come to write the next review and this was blank. I am sure it is my error but it does not stop the annoyance that it has caused me. I put a lot of heart into this one and I am not convinced I could do this again but I will give it a bash through gritted teeth and starting much earlier in the evening than before. The time right now is 9.56pm so here goes…
I love this movie, and I love it because of six words and three names and I will get to those a bit later but first I will give you a little background on this. This was produced by a company called Cosgrove Hall and this was the only feature length movie that company made. It cost $4.8m to make and they had the books author involved in the initial production. That author is of course the legend that is Roald Dahl who penned many children’s classics but you may not know he wrote one of the James Bond movies and most of the Tales from the Unexpected. The box-office results are not available as this movie never saw a cinema screen on release. Why I hear you ask? This was a straight to TV movie and it was shown on ITV on Christmas Day in 1989. It was fundamentally and productively a British movie and as an animated movie again I have to say that the cast are those that supplied the voices for the movie and if you are British get ready for this list and if you are the American followers I have, this may not mean much to you (sorry)… what was I doing? Oh yes, the cast - David Jason, Amanda Root, Angela Thorne, Ballard Berkeley, Michael Knowles, Don Henderson, Mollie Sugden, Jimmy Hibbert & Frank Thornton. I seem to remember a real ‘Are You Being Served’ feel about the cast.
The plot is best explained in the novel written by Roald Dahl so you would be best off going to read that first but if you are too lazy for that here’s the beginning. Sophie is an orphan living in the orphanage of Mrs Clonkers. In the middle of a night she wakes and spies out the window to see a large shadowy figure blowing something through a trumpet shaped object. The giant of a man realises that he has been spotted so grabs Sophie in his massive hands and takes her off into the night. He takes her through the night to Realm of the Giant Country where he lives. Why does he live there? Well because he is a giant and unlike all the other giants, he is friendly and not a human eater. Hence the Big Friendly Giant and he warns Sophie that she shouldn’t encounter any other giant in this land as they will kill and eat her. He explains that he goes out at night and blows dreams into sleeping children to help them to avoid nightmares by having nice dreams. They plan a trip to the Dream Caves to collect more dreams ahead of the next night’s work. They encounter a few other giants and Sophie is lucky to escape with her life. Resulting in Sophie coming up with a scheme to rid the world of these nasty giants. All they have to do is go into Buckingham Palace and have a chat with the Queen and she can organise her army to remove all the giants. Simple! Or is it?
Well I started this review by saying that I love this movie for 3 names and 6 words they are David Jason, Brian Cosgrove & Ballard Berkeley. So, I will start with the first two words David Jason is a legend in British Comedy linked forever with Del Boy in Only Fools and Horses but people forget he was also in Open All Hours, Porridge, Darling Buds of May, Colour of Magic and the Hogfather. His voice is unique and for his involvement in anything makes it better and although he has acted in things, I would never watch I would still be tempted by his sheer presence.
The final two words of that sentence is Ballard Berkeley and if you do not recognise the name I fully understand but when I explain that he was a very British Actor that appeared in Night Of The Demon, Wildcats Of St Trinian’s, Bullshot, Little Lord Fauntelroy, National Lampoon’s European Vacation and the one you will probably remember is Major Gowen or just the Major who seemed to be living in Fawlty Tower’s Hotel. This movie was to be his last work as he died after recording his parts in January of 1988 so never saw the released version on Christmas Day of 1989.
The final person to mention and someone that I see as the driving force of this movie and producer of so many of my own personal favourite TV shows was Brian Cosgrove (who did do a lot of work with Mark Hall) but for me personally the follow list of TV shows he produced is like listing my childhood in one place. Are you ready for this *take a deep breath* go – he did some short cartoons for ‘Rainbow’ and then produced such classics as Noddy, Chorlton & the Wheelies, Jamie and the Magic Torch, Cockleshell Bay, The Pied Piper of Hamelin, The Wind in the Willows, Victor & Hugo, Truckers & Oakie Doke. Now I have left two more out of that list as they should stand alone in my love affair with television namely Danger Mouse and Count Duckula. Both of which used the voice talents of David Jason again. So why do I love this film, not because of the film but because of who this movie brought together in one place. Oh!! and it is also worth noting that if Roald Dahl did not hold back when giving his views on someone’s interpretation of his work. If he didn’t like something he would tell you so when he was invited to watch a screening of the movie when finished and before going onto tv all of the production team were all very nervous. At the movie’s conclusion he and his family all stood and applauded the screen. So, I don’t care about the IMDb or Rotten’s score for this as only my views matter on this one. Go treat yourself and give it a watch and listen to Mollie Sugden as well (what more do you want).
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