Film: Matilda: The Musical

 

GENRE: Musical
RATING: PG for exaggerated bullying and some language
RUNTIME: 1 hour and 57 minutes
PLATFORM: Netflix
STARRING: Emma Thompson (Saving Mr. Banks, Nanny McPhee)
Alisha Weir (newcomer); Lashana Lynch (No Time to Die, Captain Marvel)
DIRECTOR: Matthew Warchus (Old Vic theatre director)
WRITER: Dennis Kelly (Matilda the Musical – stage version)
PLOT: An extraordinary girl takes a stand against a bully administrator

FULL DISCLOSURE: I really enjoyed the West End/Broadway musical.          

STORY STUFF: I never read the original novel. I was not a fan of the film version with Mara Wilson. However, I really enjoyed the musical on Broadway and the West End. I’m glad that more people will be able to experience this imaginative tale. While there are a few things I miss from the stage show including a larger dad role and a brother obsessed with TV, this shortened adaptation still captures all the fun and feels. It’s the perfect length and will delight most audiences. Still, I’d rather see this on the stage.

ACTING STUFF: Thompson is wonderful as the outrageously cruel Agatha Trunchbull. (In the stage version, this role is usually played by a man in drag for laughs.) Under her phenomenal makeup, she easily commands every scene that she is in. I think Weir is one of my favourite versions of Matilda. She didn’t seem as bratty as previous ones which made me root for her more. Lynch plays a good Miss Honey but didn’t blow me away. I always like Stephen Graham, who plays the dad, but I wish he got to sing.       

ARTISTIC STUFF: The film does a great job of taking scenes that were restricted to smaller stage space and giving them a grand scale. The school itself with its 200 kids looks fantastic as does the chain-like spectre conjured near the end. I adore the stage version of “When I Grow Up” with giant swings that go out into the audience so that one is hard to top. The stage version of “School Song” is also impressive with intricate choreography on a giant gate but the film does an awesome job of running through the halls and highlighting all the letters of the alphabet. I found it funny how the final conflict looks a lot like a theatrical stage.

VERDICT: Four stars out of five
SEE IT IF: You like musicals and Roald Dahl tales.
UPCOMING REVIEW:  The Banshees of Inisherin