Matilda

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So, here we have a title where I'm surprised that so many people were surprised that I just kinda bypassed this movie. Well, to tell you the truth, I bypassed Roald Dahl stories pretty much entirely as a kid. As you might recall, I began this section with 'Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory', and guess who STILL hasn't seen 'James and the Giant Peach' either! The only one I did manage to see on-time was 'BFG'. Anyway, this was no exception.

​It came out in August of '96 as well. I had just turned 14. So you've gotta understand that a young man just about to go into high school might have felt a little weird about watching a movie about a little girl with telekinetic abilities, where I could turn to my 'X-Men' comics and get Jean Grey doing the same thing, plus way more. And yet, the people continue to be shocked that somehow I've never managed to sit down and watch 'Matilda'. Well, for March, I'm gonna be focused on some family favorites that I've missed out on over the years, and I figured this was a good place to start.

For anyone else who hasn't seen it yet, we've basically got a story about a 6-year-old girl named Matilda (Mara Wilson). Her parents (Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman), along with her brother, Michael (Brian Levinson) mistreat her, ignoring her rapid development. She finds a friend in the books that she reads to escape from her harsh, everyday life, and blossoms into a genius, also acquiring telekinetic abilities she has yet to tap into.

The parents drop her at a school, ran by an over-the-top cruel principal named Trunchbull (Pam Ferris) who just kinda throws kids around, locks them into chambers, dangles them upside-down for pocket change, and admittedly despises children altogether. However, Matilda also befriends her sweet-as-apple-pie teacher, Miss. Honey (Embeth Davidtz) who encourages and nurtures the children's development.

I have to admit that I kinda sorta enjoyed this movie as a film for kids. Despite so much mean-spirited dialogue and, let's face it, straight up child abuse (what else would you call swinging a girl around by the pigtails?), this movie has a certain type of heart to it that I can't help but admire. Dahl is no stranger to over-the-top WTF moments, and I think that's how he best gets his messages across. In a way, these things are scary for kids. For example, if you're a kid watching 'Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory', tunnel scene aside, you've gotta wonder what ever happens to the kids who disappear - presumed dead. To a lesser extent, 'BFG' has the whole idea of giants eating children. Here, it's the authority figures, which is something we've pretty much all taken issue with some way or another, so it works.

The thing I like about it is that Miss Honey kinda plays that ray of hope for Matilda, who clearly has one hell of a special gift, super powers aside. Her parents treat her like nothing, her brother's a bully, and Trunchbull is pretty much female Hitler, but Honey and Matilda's friendship is admirable. These were the teachers I loved in elementary school when I, myself, was struggling a lot through various subjects. Some teachers wanted to give me pills, but some were very sweet, patient, and encouraging. Honey reminded me of the teachers from my past who encouraged me and pushed me while I felt ignored or even useless in so many other aspects. I got where Matilda was coming from here, and I think that's really the full charm of the movie. It's over the top, sure, but the right message is there.

If this was just released a few years earlier, when I was still well into kid's movies, it probably would have done me some good. I can recognize that and see that I may have had a certain rapport with this as a kid, and I don't think I'd necessarily shield my own children from it either. Matilda has to overcome some pretty nasty stuff here, and it manages to make the good of the film shine a bit brighter for the kids who are watching.

4/5

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