Yeah, did I hear you screech? I think I just heard someone say “That old movie”. Let me help you out with the year it was released and refresh your memory on this movie created based on Roald Dahl’s book.
The movie Matilda is a 1996 movie about a little girl named Matilda (Mara Wilson). Matilda had powers she was oblivious of until a certain age when she realized it and practiced how to use her powers till she was perfect at it. Her power dwelt basically in her eyes. With her eyes, she could lift things up, move things towards her or to anyone else, break the TV screen, make the lights come on, the music come on, make a newt jump on someone, spin people, lift a cup; she basically controlled things using the powers of her eyes. Matilda also used her powers to protect other kids from the fury of Miss Trunchbull (Pam Ferris) I am sure you all didn’t take note that the intimidator never married in the movie (Yeah). Common! who would have married that tyrant?
As a little child, Matilda was already used to taking care of herself which includes, getting off herself and preparing for school, cooking, doing laundry, dressing herself and so on as her parents neglected her. They were too busy to look after her and see her abilities. Even when she was 6 years old, her parents Harry and Zinnia Wormwood (Danny Devito and Rhea Perlman) thought she was still four, (My eyes are rolling right now)
Matilda was an interesting character. Remember when she replaced her daddy’s hair stimulant with her mother’s blonde hair dye? Remember also when she applied glue to her father’s most used hat so it got stuck when the poor man wore it in his head and his wife struggled to pull it off his head- LOL.
Remember how Matilda dealt with Miss Trunchbull? She used her powers to write on the chalkboard, pretending to be the ghost of Miss Honey’s dead father Magnus which terrified Miss Trunchbull and she ran away from the school. She also used her powers to restore all that belonged to Miss Honey which was illegally taken by Miss Trunchbull
However, beyond the powers she had, she was an outstanding intelligent student which endeared her to her class teacher Miss Honey (Embeth Davidtz). She loved to read. She was a great reader, writer and thinker. At a young age, she had finished reading all the children books in the library and moved on to the adult books. She did things that are age mates couldn’t do. She was fast at calculating big numbers adults like her parents and teacher would naturally struggle to calculate.
However Matilda was lucky to find a teacher like Miss Honey who loved her so much and treated her like a daughter which was what she had always wished for. When her parents planned to relocate, Matilda was left with no option than to tell her parents- Harry and Zinnia Wormwood that she wants to be with Miss Honey. Would the Warmwood let go of their daughter?
WATCH VIDEO CLIPS HERE
Director: Danny DeVito (He played Matilda’s father in the movie); Story by: Roald Dahl; Screenplay: Nicholas Kazan, Robin Swicord