Matilda (1996 film)

Matilda
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Danny DeVito
Screenplay by	Nicholas Kazan Robin Swicord
Based on	Matilda by Roald Dahl
Produced by	Danny DeVito Michael Shamberg Stacey Sher Felicity Dahl
Starring	Danny DeVito Rhea Perlman Embeth Davidtz Pam Ferris Mara Wilson
Narrated by	Danny DeVito
Cinematography	Stefan Czapsky
Edited by	Lynzee Klingman Brent White
Music by	David Newman
Production companies	TriStar Pictures Jersey Films
Distributed by	Sony Pictures Releasing
Release date	August 2, 1996 (1996-08-02) (United States)
Running time	98 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$36 million
Box office	$33.5 million

Matilda is a 1996 American fantasy comedy film co-produced and directed by Danny DeVito, from a screenplay written by Nicholas Kazan and Robin Swicord. Based on Roald Dahl's popular 1988 novel of the same name, the film stars Mara Wilson as the title character with DeVito (who also served a dual role as the narrator), Rhea Perlman, Embeth Davidtz and Pam Ferris in supporting roles. The film centers on a young genius girl named Matilda Wormwood, who develops psychokinetic abilities and uses them to deal with her disreputable family and Agatha Trunchbull, the ruthless, oppressive, and tyrannical principal of Crunchem Hall Elementary School. Produced by DeVito's Jersey Films, the film was released theatrically in the United States on August 2, 1996 by Sony Pictures Releasing through TriStar Pictures label. The film received positive reviews, praising DeVito's direction, and the film's faithfulness to the spirit of the source material. However, the film was commercially unsuccessful, grossing $33.5 million in the United States on a $36 million budget.

Plot

Young genius Matilda Wormwood is regularly neglected and mistreated by her parents, Harry and Zinnia, and her older brother, Michael. She is smart, independent and frequently goes to the public library where she finds solace in the fictional worlds found in the books. When Matilda's parents refuse to enroll her into school, she retaliates against them over the course of a day, first by adding hydrogen peroxide bleaching agent to her father's hair tonic and then by gluing his hat to his head. During dinner that night, Harry catches Matilda reading Moby-Dick and rips it up and forces her to watch television instead. Matilda becomes increasingly enraged until the television suddenly explodes.

One of Harry's car dealership customers is Miss Agatha Trunchbull, the tyrannical principal of Crunchem Hall Elementary School. Harry sells her a car in exchange for her admitting Matilda as a pupil. At school, Matilda makes friends but discovers that Trunchbull harshly punishes students, while Matilda's teacher, Miss Jennifer Honey, warms to Matilda due to her intelligence; Honey requests Matilda be moved up to a higher class, but Trunchbull refuses. Honey then informs the Wormwoods about Matilda's genius-level intellect, but they ignore her. One day, Trunchbull has the school meet for an assembly where she forces student Bruce Bogtrotter to eat an enormous chocolate cake in one sitting. After Matilda leads the students in cheering Bruce on, Trunchbull then makes them stay 5 hours late in retaliation. Matilda then discovers that her father is under surveillance by two undercover FBI agents because of his illegal dealings. Her parents refuse to believe her as Zinnia flirts with the agents, whom she assumes are speedboat salesmen.

As a prank, Lavender, one of Matilda's friends, puts a newt in Trunchbull's water jug to scare her. Trunchbull accuses Matilda, whose anger at the injustice leads her to telekinetically tip the glass over, splashing the newt onto Trunchbull. However, Matilda is then unable to display her powers to Honey during a test run. Honey remarks that one's self-confidence often leads them to prove it to others, only to have them mess up. Honey invites Matilda over to her house for tea and reveals a dark secret: her mother died when she was two, and her father Magnus, a doctor, invited his wife's stepsister, Trunchbull, to live with them and look after her, but Trunchbull abused her. When Honey was five, Magnus died of an alleged suicide and left everything to Trunchbull; who Matilda and Honey suspect actually killed him. When Matilda and Honey sneak inside Trunchbull's house to obtain some of Honey's belongings, Trunchbull suddenly returns after her car breaks down, prompting the duo to narrowly escape capture.

Matilda trains her telekinetic powers by making objects fly around the house and thwarting the FBI agents in order to buy Harry time to come to his senses. Having practiced her ability, she returns to Trunchbull's house and attempts to scare her away with telekinesis, but Trunchbull discovers Matilda's presence upon finding her hair ribbon. The next day, Matilda reveals her powers to Honey but Trunchbull visits the class to make Matilda confess. Matilda magically writes a message on the blackboard, posing as the vengeful soul of Magnus, who accuses Trunchbull of murdering him. Trunchbull attacks the students, but Matilda rescues them and she and the other students permanently force her out of the school, and Honey moves back into her true home.

Sometime later, the Wormwoods show up at Honey's house to take Matilda and flee to Guam as a permanent vacation to avoid arrest after the FBI collects enough evidence to prosecute Harry. Matilda refuses to go with them and says she would rather be adopted by Honey. Zinnia and Harry both sign Matilda's adoption papers, with Zinnia feeling remorseful for never understanding her daughter. Matilda lives happily with Honey, who then becomes the new principal of Crunchem Hall.

Cast

• Mara Wilson as Matilda Wormwood, a young, savvy, well-mannered, intelligent 6-year-old girl whose powers can make anything possible.
  • Alissa / Amanda Graham / James Gallagher as Newborn Matilda Wormwood
  • Kayla Fredericks as 9-month-old Matilda Wormwood
  • Amanda Fein as 2-year-old Matilda Wormwood
  • Sara Magdalin as 4-year-old Matilda Wormwood
• Danny DeVito as Harry Wormwood, a grumpy, hateful and abusive crooked car salesman, Matilda and Michael's father and Zinnia's husband.
  • DeVito also narrated the film.
• Rhea Perlman as Zinnia Wormwood, Harry's wife, Matilda and Michael's mother, and a vain and cheery bingo-obsessed parent.
• Embeth Davidtz as Miss Jennifer Honey, the kind and devoted teacher at Crunchem Hall who inspires Matilda to believe in the power of what is inside.
  • Amanda and Kristyn Summers as 2-year-old Miss Jennifer Honey
  • Phoebe Pearl as 5-year-old Miss Jennifer Honey
• Pam Ferris as Miss Agatha Trunchbull, the cruel and selfish principal at Crunchem Hall and Jennifer Honey's abusive aunt; she is a former Olympian athlete, and uses her strengths - shotput, hammer throw, and javelin - to hurt the children at the school. She also likes putting them in the Chokey, a small closet with many nails sticking in it and broken glass shards.
• Paul Reubens and Tracey Walter as Bob and Bill, two FBI agents posing as speedboat salesmen who are investigating Harry due to his illegal car business.
• Brian Levinson as Michael Wormwood, Harry and Zinnia's bratty son and Matilda's older brother, who bullies, throws food at and calls her "dip-face".
  • Nicholas Cox as 6-year-old Michael Wormwood
• Kiami Davael as Lavender, Matilda's best friend and fellow classmate.
• Jacqueline Steiger as Amanda Thripp, Matilda's timid classmate who has pigtails which Miss Trunchbull hates.
• Kira Spencer Hesser as Hortensia, an older schoolmate who warns Matilda about the Trunchbull.
• Jean Speegle Howard as Mrs. Phelps, the librarian who gives books to Matilda and is fascinated by and encourages her love of reading.
• Marion Dugan as Cookie, the elderly school cook who makes chocolate cake and is loyal to Miss Trunchbull.
• Jimmy Karz as Bruce Bogtrotter, Matilda's gluttonous classmate who gets abused by Miss Trunchbull for eating her chocolate cake.
• Jon Lovitz as Mickey (uncredited), the game show host of "The Million Dollar Sticky".

Production

Miriam Margolyes confirmed that she auditioned for the role of Agatha Trunchbull during a filmed interview with Jo Brand for the UK television special Roald Dahl's Revolting Rule Book which was hosted by Richard E. Grant and aired on September 22, 2007. This documentary commemorated Dahl's 90th birthday and also celebrated his impact as a children's author in popular culture. Margolyes went on to play Aunt Sponge (another Dahl villainess) in James and the Giant Peach which was also released in 1996.

Pam Ferris (Miss Trunchbull) incurred several injuries during the production on the film. The climactic scene where she is whacked by blackboard erasers required her to keep her eyes open, causing chalk dust to get caught in her eyes and necessitating several trips to the hospital to get her eyes washed out. The scene where Trunchbull whirls Amanda Thripp (Jacqueline Steiger) by her pigtails required a harness to support the little girl, the wires of which were threaded through the pigtails and then looped around Ferris's fingertips to give her grip. As she swung her around the centrifugal force grew too great and tore the top part of Ferris' finger, requiring 7 or 8 stitches.

The Crank House, in Altadena, stood in for Miss Trunchbull's house. The exterior of Matilda's house is located on Youngwood Drive in Whittier, while the library she visits is the Pasadena Public Library on East Walnut Street in Pasadena.

Mara Wilson's mother, Suzie Wilson, was diagnosed with breast cancer during filming and died 4 months before the film’s release. The film was dedicated to her memory. Danny DeVito revealed that prior to her death, he had shown her the final edit of the movie so that she was able to see Wilson’s performance in the movie.

Music

Two songs are featured in the film. One of them, "Send Me on My Way" by Rusted Root, is played twice: when four-year-old Matilda is left alone at her house, making pancakes, and at the end of the film, set to a montage of Matilda and Miss Honey playing at Miss Trunchbull's former house. The other song is Thurston Harris' "Little Bitty Pretty One", played when Matilda is learning to control her telekinetic powers. The film's original score was composed by David Newman, a frequent collaborator of DeVito.

Release

The film was released on August 2, 1996 and grossed $33.5 million in the United States against a production budget of $36 million.

Home media

The film was released on VHS in pan and scan and LaserDisc in widescreen on December 17, 1996 from Columbia TriStar Home Video. In 1997, it was released on a bare-bones dual sided DVD containing fullscreen and widescreen. In August 2013, Wilson and most of her costars from the film had a reunion to celebrate its 17th anniversary and it being released on Blu-ray. The reunion was featured in the Blu-ray release.

Reception

As of September 2020, on Rotten Tomatoes, Matilda had an approval rating of 90% based on 21 reviews with an average rating of 7.48/10. The website's critical consensus read, "Danny DeVito-directed version of Matilda is odd, charming, and while the movie diverges from Roald Dahl, it nonetheless captures the book's spirit." On Metacritic, as of September 2020, the film had a score of 72 out of 100 based on reviews from 21 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews." Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade B+ on scale of A to F. Writing for Empire, Caroline Westbrook gave the film a rating of three stars and praised DeVito's clever direction.

Roger Ebert of Chicago Sun-Times praised the film's oddity, gave it three stars out of four and wrote:

Trunchbull is the kind of villainess children can enjoy, because she is too ridiculous to be taken seriously and yet really is mean and evil, like the witch in Snow White. And since most children have at one time or another felt that their parents are not nice enough to them, they may also enjoy the portrait of Matilda's parents.

Potential sequel

In November 2019, DeVito said that he "always wanted to" develop a sequel to Matilda, adding that a potential sequel could star Matilda's own child, due to Wilson having grown up after the film's release.

External links

• Matilda at IMDb
• Matilda at the TCM Movie Database
• Matilda at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
• Matilda at Box Office Mojo
• Matilda at Moviechat Archived August 19, 2019, at the Wayback Machine