“Matilda the Musical” Review
Emma Thompson’s Agatha Trunchbull (Left) squares off against her telekinetic nemesis Matilda Wormwood (Alisha Wier) in “Matilda the Musical,” the second film adaptation of the Roald Dahl novel.
Growing up, one of my favorite authors was Roald Dahl. I absolutely loved the imaginative stories he told with some of my favorite books being “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” “The Witches” and “Boy: Tales of Childhood.” Over the past few decades, several film adaptations have been made of Dahl’s work which I love just as much as his books. Steven Spielberg brought his heartwarming lens to “The BFG,” Wes Anderson made one of my favorite animated films with “Fantastic Mr. Fox” and, while I have my issues with Tim Burton’s version, both adaptations of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” are incredibly memorable.
But one of my favorite stories of his is “Matilda” which was made into a fantastic film by Danny Devito in 1996. I love the story’s brilliant, almost mean-spirited tone that leaves a lot of room for good comedy. As a kid, the idea of a telekinetic bookworm being able to fight back against her oppressors was pretty fun. Plus, was there any villain more terrifying than Miss Trunchbull? She flings kids by their pigtails dammit!
The popularity of the story not only led to a film, but also a Broadway musical. While, normally, I’m skeptical of musicals based on popular films, I grew a little excited when I saw that the Tony-winning musical was getting a film adaptation. The trailers looked very energized and it promised to have the comically dark tone that I love from this story. Fortunately, “Matilda the Musical” proved to live up to the hype and made for an entertaining time.
Like the previous versions of the story, the film centers on Matilda Wormwood (Alisha Wier), an incredibly intelligent girl who can do complex mathematical equations in her head and loves to read large books by Steinbeck, Tolstoy and Melville. Unfortunately, her neglectful parents (Stephen Graham and Andrea Riseborough) see her as nothing but a nuisance and her only friend is the local librarian. When Matilda is finally allowed to go to school at Crunchem Hall, she quickly makes friends with her classmates and her angelic teacher Miss Honey (Lashana Lynch). But this is not a school. It’s a prison run by the tyrannical Agatha Trunchbull (Emma Thompson) who quickly butts heads with Matilda. As the rivalry grows, Matilda begins to develop telekinetic powers which she uses to start a revolution.
As far as many people are concerned, Mara Wilson’s performance in the 1996 film is definitive for the character of Matilda. However, Alisha Wier’s performance was fantastic by being precocious while also being more than capable of fighting back. This attitude is on full display in the song “Naughty” where, after being yelled at by her parents for being a reader, she messes with her father’s hair tonic to dye his hair. Unlike someone like Cinderella, who takes so much abuse with no complaints in hopes of a better future, Matilda sings about how sometimes you can’t take this shit anymore.
All of the film’s musical numbers are full of incredible energy, rivaling the sequences of “West Side Story” and “The Greatest Showman.” While director Matthew Marchus hasn’t directed many films, having much more experience in theater (which included directing the original West End and Broadway productions of “Matilda”), he knows how to make these musical numbers feel cinematic.
Alisha Wier’s performance as Matilda is fantastic with Wier coming across as imaginative and brilliant with a tenacity that gets her through each day.
“Matilda the Musical” had me with the first song where all the parents dote on their newborn children while the Wormwoods are in complete denial that Mrs. Wormwood is even pregnant until she has her first contraction. When all the other babies sing things like “my mommy says I’m a miracle” or “my daddy says I’m his special little guy,” and then Matilda sings “my mommy says I’m a good case for population control,” I knew this was going to be a fun film.
As for the other songs, they are exceptionally well-written by Tim Minchin with “School Song” having amazing lyrics about how much of a hell-hole Crunchem Hall is and then, later in the song, you realize that it’s actually breaking down the alphabet. The film’s climactic song, “Revolting Children,” has some of the best energy I’ve seen in a musical in quite a while.
I was initially skeptical of a musical based on “Matilda” because I think that a film should be turned into a musical for two reasons. One, if the original film already had a natural musicality to it that could be translated to the stage. “Beetlejuice” has several memorable scenes involving music, like the “Day-O” dinner party scene or the ending dance to “Jump In The Line,” which made for an easy adaptation into a full Broadway show. Other musicals that fit this description include “Phantom of the Opera,” “The Producers” and “Some Like It Hot.”
Two, you can make a Broadway musical out of a film if the songs are just too fantastic to say no to. I have no idea why someone wanted to make a musical based on a B-horror film by Roger Corman but wasn’t “Little Shop of Horrors” fantastic? I wasn’t sure about “Matilda” but these sequences are fantastic and, when you think about it, this does feel like a more twisted Disney film.
Speaking of twisted, Emma Thompson has the most difficult job of anyone in the cast. I can see many actors playing Matilda, the Wormwoods or Miss Honey. It’s difficult to see anyone other than Pam Ferris as the tyrannical headmistress of Crunchem Hall. She’s just one of those movie villains that you love to hate. You hate that she’s torturing children but she’s having such fun doing it. This is someone who forces a child to eat a massive chocolate cake and then smashes the plate over his head when he actually succeeds.
Emma Thompson is so delightfully mean as the Trunchbull and there are actually some things surrounding the character that I think are done better in this version. When the Trunchbull grabs Amanda Thripp (Winter Jarrett-Glasspool) by her pigtails and tosses her over the fence. In the 1996 film, it’s very mean but they make it clear that the little girl is okay. In this film, the Trunchbull asks one of the students to check if she’s still alive. Don’t worry, she is. But it’s pretty funny that she thinks child death is no big deal. You kind of need a sick sense of humor to enjoy some of the film’s jokes.
If you’re expecting a shot-for-shot remake of the 1996 film, that’s not what you’re going to get. What makes “Matilda: The Musical” ao refreshing is how different it is from its predecessor. However, I think that the original film has more personality with Danny Devito’s bizarre direction, weird camera angles, tacky tones and a really mean atmosphere for Matilda to battle against. But that doesn’t mean that this new film isn’t worthy of attention. “Matilda the Musical” has such infectious energy that completely justifies itself as a musical with marvelous performances and, most importantly, it captures the spirit of the original book.
