The BFG

The BFG (1990) is the hand-drawn Roald Dahl adaptation you can watch online on iFILM, the Cosgrove Hall cartoon rather than the later Spielberg one.

One night a giant hand reaches into an orphanage dormitory and lifts little Sophie clean out of bed. Her kidnapper turns out to be gentle: he bottles good dreams in glass jars and blows them through the windows of sleeping children. The trouble is the other giants next door, who are bigger, meaner, and hungry for kids. Sophie and her oversized friend set out to stop them.

This is the version from the British studio behind The Wind in the Willows and Danger Mouse, with David Jason voicing the title giant and his tongue-twisting gobblefunk. Dahl's story comes through in soft, musical, slightly old-fashioned animation, no CGI, no spectacle, just charm. A kind first taste of the author for younger kids. Stream The BFG (1990) online on iFILM.