Last night was the first time Ligia and I saw this delightful movie (IMDB). I regret not seeing it earlier. I remember the ads on TV back when it came out. I hadn’t read the book by Roald Dahl, nor did I know the story was written by him until I watched the featurette included in the special features on the DVD. I might have known it though.

All his stories weave scary elements into whimsical storytelling with wonderful plotlines and happy endings that remain with you. It makes for such vivid characters and happenings! I still treasure “The BFG” (1989, IMDB), more than 15 years after seeing it. I taped it when it ran on TV, and I still have the tape somewhere — although it’s probably so demagnetized by now that I wouldn’t be able to watch it.

Boy, those aunts of James’ were sure scary! If I were still a child, I might have had nightmares about them. The sets were great. You could tell right away they were sets, but that didn’t detract from their atmosphere at all — in fact, it added to it. I wondered why, and then I saw Tim Burton’s name as Co-Producer. I might have known that as well. The sets had the same feel as “Nightmare Before Christmas” (1993, IMDB) and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” (2005, IMDB).

Parents have already picked up on what makes the movie wonderful for children, so I’m only going to mention it in passing: it’s the uplifting message it carries, of course, picked up from the book. James, a child mistreated by his aunts to the point of abuse, hangs on to his imagination and the kindness that his parents instill in him, and proves to be a hero loved by the insects he saves, and by his adopted city, New York. It’s the sort of story that you’ll want to read to your children over and over, and the sort of story they’ll want to listen to over and over and over.

I thought the movie was very well done and highly watchable. I always have a healthy amount of respect for the people that work on these stop-motion animation movies. It takes years to get them done. It took three years for this movie. There are 24 frames per second, which means that each scene had to be rearranged for each frame, 24 times per second and 1,440 times for a full minute of action. That’s a herculean effort, and one has to respect that. When you add in the fact that the finished product looks great, it’s really a wonderful achievement.

Loved it!