Matilda (1996)

Roald Dahl's 1988 novel Matilda is one of those books that a certain generation of British and Irish children practically grew up inside. The story of a precociously gifted girl stuck with a family who couldn't care less about her, and a school ruled by a genuinely monstrous headmistress, hit a nerve that Dahl knew how to find better than almost anyone: that peculiar childhood feeling of being surrounded by adults who are wrong about everything and completely unaware of it. By the mid-1990s the book was already a beloved fixture on school reading lists and had transferred to the stage, so when Jersey Films and TriStar Pictures brought it to the screen in 1996, there was plenty of expectation riding on the adaptation. The film sits comfortably alongside other family fare from that period, including The Hunchback of Notre Dame, which came out the same year and similarly tested how much darkness a family film could carry without losing its audience.

The production sits in interesting territory because the director, Danny DeVito, is not an obvious choice for a children's film on paper. His previous work leaned into cynical comedy and crime, yet something in Dahl's sardonic worldview clearly suited him. DeVito also took on the role of Matilda's father, Harry Wormwood, and serves as narrator, giving the whole thing an unusually unified authorial feel for a studio picture. His wife in the film, Zinnia Wormwood, is played by Rhea Perlman, and the two share an easy, slightly grotesque chemistry that makes the Wormwood household feel both ridiculous and plausible. Embeth Davidtz plays Miss Honey, Matilda's warm and quietly courageous teacher, and Pam Ferris takes on Miss Trunchbull with a physicality and commitment that tips the character from threatening into something almost operatic. The film runs 98 minutes, a sensible length for its audience, and the pacing rarely drags. It is polished but unremarkable in a technical sense, the kind of mid-budget studio work that serves the story without drawing attention to itself, which is probably exactly right. For a sense of how family storytelling was handled in an earlier era, it is worth comparing the approach to something like Alice in Wonderland, or to the warmer, more grounded register of Sugar Cane Alley, another family film that takes children's inner lives seriously.

At the centre of it all is Mara Wilson, who was nine years old during filming and carries the whole enterprise with a composure that never tips into precocity for its own sake. Wilson had already appeared in Mrs. Doubtfire and Miracle on 34th Street by this point, so she was no stranger to large productions, but Matilda is a different kind of role: quieter, more interior, with long stretches that depend entirely on what is happening behind her eyes rather than what she is saying out loud. It is a performance worth paying attention to, even now.

One of the best kids’ films ever made. No exaggeration. It’s smart, magical, funny, and genuinely empowering without feeling forced or preachy. Matilda Wormwood is the kind of kid hero you root for from the first scene: clever, curious, and completely done with the nonsense adults throw at her. The whole film just works. Mara Wilson is perfect in the lead role. She’s got more wit and heart than most of the grown-ups in the movie combined (aside from of course the legendary Danny DeVito). The tone is offbeat and a little dark in places, but that’s what gives it weight. It doesn’t talk down to kids, it respects them enough to show that good can beat evil, even when the odds are stacked. And man, the soundtrack... I've probably hummed Little Bitty Pretty One more times than I can count, especially while trying to get my own kid to do their homework. What really makes this special is how timeless it feels. I watched it endlessly as a kid, and now my daughter went through her own Matilda phase, complete with rewatching the movie every weekend for a month. That’s the sign of something truly special. A modern fairy tale done right. No wonder it still gets love decades later.

I keep coming back to that word "timeless," because it really does apply here in a way it doesn't always earn. Films that set out to be classics for children sometimes buckle under the effort of it, but this one just gets out of its own way and tells the story. The fact that it has now done the same thing for a second generation in my own house says more than any critical verdict could. If you haven't revisited it recently, or haven't introduced it to a younger viewer in your life, put it on. You'll probably find yourself humming along before the end of the first act, and not minding at all.

Rating: ★★★★  | Year: 1996  | Watched: 2025-05-14

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Trailer

▶ Watch the official trailer for Matilda (1996) on YouTube

Where to watch

Watch in the UK
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