This one is personal to me. While a lot of people can say that Willy Wonka was their first exposure of Roald Dahl cinematically speaking. Matilda was my first when I was in elementary school. It’s often considered the best of Roald Dahl’s adaptations. The movie is about as sweet as you can imagine. So let’s talk about it.
1. Matilda
The way it starts sort of unsettled me when we see solid colors transition from one to another. We see the young girl after birth and the shot with Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman looking disgusted is just hilarious. From there, Matilda isn’t like her family since she loves to read books. Her Dad enrolls her in a school that’s unlike any other with the evil Trunchbull running it.
Mara Wilson does a good job with portraying the protagonist. She got her big shot with Robin Williams in the film Mrs. Doubtfire, but many consider this movie to be the best one she’s in. The fact that the character is self-sufficient without any adult supervision is utterly crazy. It just goes to show you that the adults in her world are just careless and clueless.
While I’ll talk about them in a bit, the one thing that I was not expecting was her secret gift. I love that as the film progresses, we sort of see her slowly get the hang of her powers. I tend to think that in the context of the story is that it’s sort of like her coping mechanism since she’s practically ignored by her parents. Like her powers is sort of like a thing that any kid can picture themselves having.
Aside from that, she’s intelligent to an incredible degree. I’m glad that the movie goes out of its way to show that she goes to the local library and just dives into literature. What I like is that before we even get a glimpse or just have a clue that she’s gifted, she mostly uses her intelligence to get back at her parents. More so that she has the guts to tell her own Dad that he’s a crook for selling defective cars.
2. Adults
Aside from Matilda, both DeVito and Perlman are hilarious as the Wormwoods. The fact that they don’t care about their two kids is really something. More so, the Dad’s the only breadwinner and the Mom is just a habitual Bingo player. They practically scoff at the idea of getting an education when the teacher Ms. Honey confronts the parents. And in some way, since it’s kind of odd for DeVito to narrate the film and star, I feel that the narration in the film is like a way for him to really grasp how smart his child is.
Like, the narration is something of a catharsis since I’m interpreting it as a way for him to basically recount how he practically gave his daughter up for an immediate adoption. Other than that, the Trunchbull is just purely sadistic. I haven’t read the book, but from what I read is that the actress portraying the Trunchbull is near perfect. She just punishes a student for anything, is just cruel. The film shows that her personality stems from her being a former Olympian. Especially in competing in the Munich Olympics. I don’t have to explain everything, but it suits her character.
One scene is when she singles out this one boy for eating a piece of cake. She has the school’s cook bake an entire cake for the kid to eat. We see just how much is too much since the kid is stuffed. Just when Matilda rallies her classmates to cheer on the kid, the principle immediately ends it by smashing the plate on the kids head. This is one thing where the film is mostly about the abuse of authority. And how it can be abused in a setting where a kid is supposed to learn instead of just being forced to be taught.
The only good adult is Matilda’s teacher Ms. Honey. She’s probably every kids dream of a teacher. Her calm demeaner and overall personality is the only bright spot within the confines of the school. It’s one thing where both her and Matilda are exactly alike, right down to them spending time after school. It’s endearing to see and rewarding since the ending of the film has them be together.
3. Legacy
While the movie was greatly received critically, it didn’t do so well in the box office. When it debuted, the film Independence Day practically dominated every theater. Additionally, it has this homely feeling since it feels like something you can watch in home instead of in the theaters. Inevitably, it became a cult-classic with physical media and a darling among my generation. Just last year, there was a musical adaptation based on the theater musical. That one’s enjoyable and it's on par with this one.
4. Overall
Matilda is one of the best kid films, and absolutely up there with the best Roald Dahl movies.
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