So the director is almost 70. After a long time, he made a children's story. Roald Dahl wrote many children's books, and Steven Spielberg chose one of them. That one is The Good Giant, which has already had an animated adaptation from the 1980s, but this time it's a big movie.
No one of the actors needs to be famous, you just need skilled actors who can do exactly what the director envisages. Steven Spielberg is a really good director who can instruct his actors well. In the company of his court cinematographer Janusz Kaminski and his most beloved composer John Williams, he has made a fine, delightful piece for children's imaginations.
Based on the book, from which he adapted the story a bit in detail, he has made a relaxed film from which the book version absolutely shines, both in its slow progression through the story and in its use of the qualities of a fine book translation.
But it's not a modern movie where something is always happening, it's more of a movie that grandparents will show to their little grandkids, who will relax in the movie and love to see the whole movie, which despite its length is entertaining and full of good jokes, of course, which take place, both in the cinema and in the book.
For lead child actress Ruby Barnhill, who is only 12 years old, Giant Dobr was her first major film, and she was able to show her small experience throughout. After all, it's worth it for the lead role. Director Steven Spielberg knows how to work with child actors, and you can see in the inexperienced actress that the work is very well done. It probably wasn't easy for her to imagine a big computer giant playing with her, but children have great imaginations, so working with an imaginary giant is absolutely flawless.
The computer giants also succeeded, it goes without saying that you can see their origins, Avatar they are not, but Mark Rylance managed to bring his giant to life so that young children in the cinema could imagine that it was this giant that was bringing dreams to their bedtime.
Though this movie is not for adults, but for kids who still read books and are not addicted to modern computer stuff, for those kids who like to read and like storybooks where they can imagine their stories, this movie is perfect. Pretty calm, pretty relaxed, so that kids can enjoy every moment in peace. What makes the film even better is the Czech dubbing, which is absolutely brilliant, the main roles are cast perfectly and the director has gone to terrible lengths to make sure the dubbers speak in perfect synchrony with the English original. It's a shame to listen to the dubbing for some films on home media, but the Czech version of Obra Dobra is the best Czech dubbing of recent years.
Original article September 4, 2016 – Kritiky.cz
