Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #116 in VHS
• Released on: 2003-03-03
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Dolby, PAL, Surround Sound
• Original language: English
• Number of tapes: 1
• Running time: 94 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Danny DeVito's adaptation of the Roald Dahl book for children is mostly just fine, helped along quite a bit by the charming performance of Mara Wilson (Mrs Doubtfire) as the eponymous young Matilda, a brilliant girl neglected by her stupid, self-involved parents (DeVito and Rhea Perlman). Ignored at home, Matilda escapes into a world of reading, exercising her mind so much she develops telekinetic powers. Good thing, too: sent off to a school headed by a cruel principal, Matilda needs all the help she can get. DeVito takes a highly stylized approach that is sometimes reminiscent of Barry Sonnenfeld (director of Get Shorty, a DeVito production), and his judgement is not the best in some matters, such as letting the comic-scary sequences involving the principal go on too long. But much of the film is delightful and funny.--Tom Keogh

Synopsis
A special child with special powers is ignored by her parents, who bundle her off to a dreary boarding school. There, she puts her amazing powers to good use.

Customer Reviews

Little and Large
This film is so good - for both kids and adults - that I think Dahl himself must be looking down from Heaven and smiling - after the rumours of what he felt about the production of The Witches. Some of the characterisations, sets and costumes could have been put together by the master of kitsch, Baz Luhrmann, and this is a testament to both Dahl's eye for detail and Danny DeVito's wicked sense of humour - and vice versa. Although in many ways the story has been changed and not least Americanised, Dahl's original book was rather short on substance, despite the fantastic plot, and DeVito's adaptation suits it much better than setting it in phlegmatic old England. Plus Miss Trunchbull as an Englishwoman adrift among Americans makes her character even more grotesque as she brings her curious brand of "English" discipline to an ordinary American suburb, and the way she mimics the cutesy American accents adds much more to her character than if the film had stayed set in England. And since it ends in the way Dahl intended it to - and indeed for fans of Quentin Blake's illustrations, the handwriting on the board is absolutely spot on to that pictured in the book itself, which shows DeVito is paying attention not only to the original but to critics of Americans making films of English children's classics - there is nothing for that peculiarly English snobbery about "disneyfication" to latch on to as there might have been with The Witches.

Although DeVito's additions of the stupid FBI cops enhance the story (and prove that Matilda is just as smart with people who are supposedly on her side, which I loved and which makes her the sassiest heroine for a long time), there is sadly one bit that really annoyed me - Miss Honey. In the book she is down-to-earth, practical and nonchalant about her fate. In the film...ugh, I needed to do my teeth afterwards lest they fall out from all the sugary-sweet acting. From the moment she turns up on screen the film - while not completely ruined - takes a turn for the "unrealistic". I guess Miss Honey had to live up to her name, but Miss Saccharine would have been more appropriate. The stomach-churning episode with the doll and the chocolates is disappointing, but I suppose the film manages to pull it off - just about - with more of Dahl's refreshingly grim humour injected into it just as Honey becomes Honey Monster. I suppose for an American audience the heroine has to be whiter-than-white, but since I was raised on Quentin Blake's gawky bespectacled blue-stocking, I suppose someone coming to this film without the backhistory might not mind.

But...the best thing about films of children's books, like with Narnia, is that the silver screen gives the chance for the characters to really come to life and details which would crowd a hundred-page novella can be added, and the film manages to create a whole world that is just as believable from Matilda's point of view as the Dahl version, without losing any of the master's sparkling wit or erudite points dropped in at a moment's notice. Bravissimo!

"matilda" rocks!
I love the movie Matilda, it rocks! I saw the movie on TV first then read the book and I love it. The movie's very true to the book and devito has done a good job there. With out a doubt the 2 stars that really got my attention and did a really, really good job where Pam ferris (trunchbull) and mara wilson (matilda). Mara did a great job with Matilda. She wasn't too cute and cuddly which better suits the role of Matilda and Pam's way of putting humor into the trunchbull and also still making her terrifying was awesome.

Any way get the special edition because ive got the plain DVD and it's only got the movie. All the special stuff rocks! You'll love it!

A funny, appealing, and truly enjoyable film.
This is the top favourite video in our house just now. I was initially nervous of buying it, thinking that Roald Dahl can often be scary for children and having seen a clip of the terrifying "Miss Trunchbull". But all the children who have seen it - from aged 4 to 9 - have loved it without reservation, distinguished easily between the good and bad characters, and seem to have learnt only from the good ones! Mary Wilson, as Matilda, is a delight, and the "grownup" cast play their roles impeccably. We love this film!