MATILDA REVIEW

*MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS*

In my opinion, Matilda is one of my favourite adaptations of a Roald Dahl book. It's full of comedy and there's something for everyone in the family to enjoy. 

Matilda Wormwood (Mara Wilson) is a unique young girl but her parents, Harry (Danny DeVito) and Zinnia Wormwood (Rhea Perlman) fail to realise her potential and mistreat her until, at the age of 6, they send her to school. Matilda soon befriends the kind-hearted teacher, Miss Honey (Embeth Davidtz). Unfortunately, the school's headmistress, known as the 'Trunchbull' (Pam Ferris), is very cruel to her students. However, Matilda bravely uses her recently discovered telekinetic powers to bring revenge on the evil headteacher. 

The performances are one of the best things about this film. Wilson, who was only 9 at the time of filming, is brilliant as Matilda, she stands out from the high-profile actors in the film. Many young children will be able to relate to her character and how isolated she feels but I doubt many will able to relate to having telekinetic powers. DeVito does a great job as Matilda's father, we despise him from the beginning because of the way he treats Matilda. However, she does a great job of standing up to him and pranks him several times (which is where the comedic elements come in). However, there's no one we hate more in this film than the Trunchbull. When we meet her, the first thing she does is swing a young girl by her pigtails and throws her in the air. Not to worry though, Matilda secretly saves her by having her fall in a flower garden. Ferris is incredibly scary as the Trunchbull and it's because of her performance that makes the inner child in us glad that we never had a teacher like her. Davidtz is incredibly sweet as the Miss Honey, who is the complete opposite of Trunchbull. It isn't until she befriends Matilda that she finally starts becoming a bit braver and standing up to the evil headmistress. DeVito not only performed as Matilda's father but also directed this film as well. I couldn't imagine any other director doing half as good a job as him, he clearly wanted to connect with audiences of all ages and made sure that the majority of Dahl's novel made it to the screen. 

Many people will argue that Matilda is dark for a family film but the majority of Dahl's book featured children in scary situations but what made his books popular with children was how they overcame these situations. Matilda, for instance, uses her new found powers to give the Trunchball the comeuppance.

This film features many themes: friendship, family and love and they're all clearly shown how important they are in the film especially between Matilda and Miss Honey who, by the end of the film, become their own family despite not being related. 

This has been one of my favourite films ever since I was a child and it's still one I enjoy watching at the age of 18. Out of all the film adaptations of Dahl's books, this is one of my favourites. 

7/10