Matilda (1996)

This film is an absolute classic family, feel-good movie. It is based on the book by Roald Dahl about a young, but extremely clever girl named Matilda. Matilda is born into a family (the Wormwood’s) where her Dad is a money-mad criminal and her mum is a beauty-crazy woman who is constantly on a whim. All in all, nobody loves Matilda and she is left to fend for herself, but this setback leads her to the library, her haven of books. By the time she goes to Crunchem Elementary school, the school of her Father’s client, she knows almost all there is to know. The evil head-teacher, Miss Trunchbull, may be the most horrible villain of all but her kindly teacher, Miss Honey is where Matilda finds refuge. As you go deeper into the movie, you find out more about Miss Honey’s childhood and this new information leads to Matilda’s greatest scrapes. In the movie there is a scene where the whole of Matilda’s family goes to a restaurant, in the book, this doesn’t feature. Also the movie is set in the USA and the book is set in the UK. Although, this is where I think the differences end. Mara Wilson plays Matilda in the 1996 movie, she is an American writer who was also in Mrs Doubtfire and Miracle on 34th street. Roald Dahl is a British writer who wrote Matilda as well as many greats like Danny the Champion of the world and the Twits. If you enjoyed this movie, you may enjoy Fantastic Mr Fox, another adaptation of one of Dahl’s books. Matilda won 3 awards and had 7 nominations at various different ceremonies throughout 1996 and 1997 so you can see why it is such a hit with many and one that most people watch more than once. I enjoyed this film but I found it a little too young for me and I would recommend it to those under 11 but it is really a film for all ages.