I saw the 1996 adaptation of the Roald Dahl book at camp twice in two weeks, because I had little choice. As a result, I remember it well despite disliking it in my teens. But the underwhelming '97 movie The Borrowers didn't stop me from wanting to check out more Borrower stories, which paid off. Similarly, I suspected that a musical version of Matilda, while about even with the '96 version on ratings sites, would appeal to me more.
Matilda Wormwood (Alisha Weir) gets a late start on school thanks to her negligent, emotionally abusive parents (Stephen Graham and Andrea Riseborough), but she already knows a lot thanks to supportive librarian Mrs. Phelps (Sindhu Vee) and a ridiculously advanced brain. She gets a sweet teacher in Miss Jenny Honey (Lashana Lynch), but the school overall is prison-like thanks to vicious headmistress Agatha Trunchbull (Emma Thompson). Matilda gains the courage and resourcefulness to stand up to wrongful authority -- especially after her psionic powers awaken.
Even if you always loved Matilda, you should be able to guess why I didn't. She's a Mary Sue by any usable standard. Besides, at no point in my life did I care much for writers tearing down adults to make kids look better, let alone adults harming kids just for being kids -- a running theme in Dahl works.
Apart from the music, the most obvious difference from the '96 movie is a setting in England in accordance with the book. (Kinda ironic that this accompanies an increase in racial diversity.) I'm unsure which decade it's supposed to be. Trunchbull has an athletic trophy from the late '50s, around when the actress was born, so either the "present" is in our past or Trunchbull is extraordinarily spry.
You may expect a musical to be more whimsical than a nonmusical with the same plot, but this version actually plays a bit less like a cartoonish comedy. It puts far more emphasis on how Trunchbull has almost single-handedly turned the school and Miss Honey's life into a nightmare, which partly explains the extra 20 minutes' runtime. At the same time, we see less of Matilda's Dursley-like family, which no longer includes a superfluous brother. I sure don't miss Danny DeVito resembling a Guys and Dolls extra and not doing his best acting while directing. Nor do we hear anything about parents disbelieving reports about Trunchbull's undoubtedly illegal behavior.
We also get more of a sense of why Matilda's peers don't resent her as a know-it-all. Like Captain America, she not only comes to the rescue but inspires non-villains to be better. Of course, unlike Captain America, she's not above nasty pranks. I no longer get the impression that we're supposed to see her as always making the best decisions; for one thing, she won't tell Mrs. Phelps the truth about the adults in her life.
I think the child actors do better overall this time around. Maybe the musical format helps them emote. Not that the singing is anywhere close to constant, and only near the end does anyone dance. The numbers haven't stayed with me like Rusted Root's "Send Me on My Way" from the '96 version, but they serve their purpose well enough.
In terms of getting me to feel what I'm supposed to, MtM blows its predecessor away. I won't say it's great, but I never considered cutting it short. I might recommend it for later elementary schoolers and anyone with that frame of mind.
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