I've always liked the book and the original film and never saw the musical in any form, so I was curious about the filmed adaptation of that.
Most of the story is the same, but stylistically, the film is heightened and even more satirical than I'd often expect from Dahl. There's a lot of visual and dialogue absurdity here and some pretty funny lines. However, these elements clash, maybe deliberately, with how much more grave and serious the story comes across. This Matilda lives in a worse home, with her parents feeling more maliciously cruel than before, and the abuse suffered by her and Miss Honey isn't played lightly, nor is Matilda depicted as taking it lightly—she visibly suffers, and physically looks less well than she did in the older film. Here, Matilda's powers have just a shade of horror to them as they're tied to an emotional breaking point depicted as the culmination of lots of stress, which feels more sad and dangerous this time. She feels more like a real kid in a bad place about to crack, which lends the story a lot more weight and perhaps even more authenticity. I guess it's like the tonal bridge between the oddly similar stories of the original Matilda book and film and Carrie.
The story also reframes the anti-bullying message as an explicit parallel to political oppression and revolution. Trunchbull is heavily fascist in her portrayal, with a heavy militaristic element that frames her more as a dictator, and this ties into the theme of oppressive adults banning books as a classic symbol of authoritarian oppression. Here, anti-intellectualism isn't just unfair, it's tied further into the tone of political silencing. The message of the film is that you sometimes have to be defiant or even aggressive and break the rules to make a real change. In the story of overthrowing a headmistress, Matilda here outlines how to be brave with systemic adult oppression as well, further juxtaposed with themes of children and adults having their own struggles. That's really cool!
The music performances weren't always the best or most intelligible, particularly from the kids most of the time, but the songs still work pretty well and there are highlights, with the choreography, direction, and the astounding dance performances from the kids far outweighing the spotty singing. The invented lengthy subplot of Matilda discovering a story within her feels like padding for time to me, with the initial hook of her coping with her abuse through a new creative impulse (not in the book or first film) being undermined later on by the context her story gains.
Matilda always had themes, but I'd never really thought about them much because I never read into the story with such gravitas. This film helped reframe the depth and tension inherent to the story in a way I respected.
A revisit to a story drawing out some emotional and thematic power.
I've always liked the book and the original film and never saw the musical in any form, so I was curious about the filmed adaptation of that.
Most of the story is the same, but stylistically, the film is heightened and even more satirical than I'd often expect from Dahl. There's a lot of visual and dialogue absurdity here and some pretty funny lines. However, these elements clash, maybe deliberately, with how much more grave and serious the story comes across. This Matilda lives in a worse home, with her parents feeling more maliciously cruel than before, and the abuse suffered by her and Miss Honey isn't played lightly, nor is Matilda depicted as taking it lightly—she visibly suffers, and physically looks less well than she did in the older film. Here, Matilda's powers have just a shade of horror to them as they're tied to an emotional breaking point depicted as the culmination of lots of stress, which feels more sad and dangerous this time. She feels more like a real kid in a bad place about to crack, which lends the story a lot more weight and perhaps even more authenticity. I guess it's like the tonal bridge between the oddly similar stories of the original Matilda book and film and Carrie.
The story also reframes the anti-bullying message as an explicit parallel to political oppression and revolution. Trunchbull is heavily fascist in her portrayal, with a heavy militaristic element that frames her more as a dictator, and this ties into the theme of oppressive adults banning books as a classic symbol of authoritarian oppression. Here, anti-intellectualism isn't just unfair, it's tied further into the tone of political silencing. The message of the film is that you sometimes have to be defiant or even aggressive and break the rules to make a real change. In the story of overthrowing a headmistress, Matilda here outlines how to be brave with systemic adult oppression as well, further juxtaposed with themes of children and adults having their own struggles. That's really cool!
The music performances weren't always the best or most intelligible, particularly from the kids most of the time, but the songs still work pretty well and there are highlights, with the choreography, direction, and the astounding dance performances from the kids far outweighing the spotty singing. The invented lengthy subplot of Matilda discovering a story within her feels like padding for time to me, with the initial hook of her coping with her abuse through a new creative impulse (not in the book or first film) being undermined later on by the context her story gains.
Matilda always had themes, but I'd never really thought about them much because I never read into the story with such gravitas. This film helped reframe the depth and tension inherent to the story in a way I respected.