Matilda (1996 film)
Matilda is a 1996 American fantasy comedy film co-produced and directed by Danny DeVito, from a screenplay written by Nicholas Kazan and Robin Swicord. Based on Roald Dahl's popular 1988 novel of the same name, the film stars Mara Wilson as the title character with DeVito (who also served a dual role as the narrator), Rhea Perlman, Embeth Davidtz and Pam Ferris in supporting roles. The film centers on the titular child prodigy, Matilda Wormwood, who develops psychokinetic abilities and uses them to deal with her disreputable family; and Agatha Trunchbull, the ruthless, oppressive, and  tyrannical principal of Crunchem Hall Elementary School. Produced by DeVito's Jersey Films, the film was released theatrically in the United States on August 2, 1996, by Sony Pictures Releasing through TriStar Pictures label. The film received positive reviews, praising DeVito's direction, and the film's faithfulness to the spirit of the source material. However, the film was commercially unsuccessful, grossing $33.5 million in the United States on a $36 million budget. Plot. Young genius Matilda Wormwood is neglected and mistreated by her car dealer father Harry, her mother Zinnia and her brother, Michael. She is smart  and independent, and finds solace in the fictional worlds of books at the public library. When Matilda's parents refuse to enroll her into school, she puts bleach in her father's hair tonic and glues his hat to his head. Harry catches Matilda reading "Moby-Dick", rips it up, and forces her to watch game shows on television. Matilda becomes increasingly enraged until the television explodes. Harry sells a car to Miss Agatha Trunchbull, the tyrannical principal of Crunchem Hall Elementary School, in exchange for admitting Matilda as a student. Matilda's teacher, Miss Jennifer Honey, notices the ease  with which Matilda answers middle school multiplication questions and requests Matilda be moved to a higher class, but Trunchbull refuses. The Wormwoods are not interested either. Trunchbull has the whole school watch her forcing pupil Bruce Bogtrotter to eat an entire enormous chocolate cake. Matilda leads the students in cheering Bruce to success, and Trunchbull gives them all five hours detention. Matilda discovers her father is under surveillance by the FBI over his illegal dealings. Her parents refuse to believe her as Zinnia flirts with the two agents whom she believes to be speedboat salesmen. Matilda's friend Lavender puts  a newt in Trunchbull's water jug. Trunchbull accuses Matilda, who, in anger at the injustice, telekinetically tips the glass over, splashing the newt onto Trunchbull. Matilda is unable to reproduce her powers to Honey during a test. Honey invites Matilda to tea and reveals a secret: her mother died when she was two, and her father Magnus invited his wife's stepsister, Trunchbull, to live with them and look after her, but Trunchbull abused her. Magnus died, apparently by suicide, when Honey was five and left everything to Trunchbull who Honey suspects killed him. Matilda and Honey sneak into  Trunchbull's house to retrieve some of Honey's belongings. They narrowly escape when Trunchbull unexpectedly returns. Matilda practices her telekinetic powers and thwarts the FBI agents to buy Harry time to come to his senses. She returns to Trunchbull's house and attempts to scare her out of it, nearly succeeding. However, Trunchbull becomes aware of Matilda's presence upon finding her hair ribbon. The next day, Matilda reveals her powers to Honey but Trunchbull visits the class to make Matilda confess. Matilda telekinetically writes a message on the blackboard, posing as the vengeful soul of Magnus accusing Trunchbull  of murdering him. Trunchbull attacks the students in a rage, but Matilda protects them and they force Trunchbull out of the school, who retreats in her car and disappears from their lives forever. Honey moves back into her father's house, with Matilda regularly visiting her. Harry, Zinnia, and Michael come to Honey's house to pick up Matilda and flee to Guam to avoid the FBI. Matilda refuses to go, saying she would rather be adopted by Honey. After brief reservations about giving up their only daughter, her parents sign the adoption papers and Matilda and Honey finally get  the family they've always wanted. Honey becomes principal of Crunchem Hall and Matilda never has to use her telekinetic powers for defense again, but occasionally uses them for small tasks such as retrieving books from shelves Production. Miriam Margolyes confirmed that she auditioned for the role of Agatha Trunchbull during a filmed interview with Jo Brand for the UK television special "Roald Dahl's Revolting Rule Book" which was hosted by Richard E. Grant and aired on September 22, 2007. This documentary commemorated Dahl's 90th birthday and also celebrated his impact as a children's author in popular  culture. Margolyes went on to play Aunt Sponge (another Dahl villainess) in "James and the Giant Peach" which was also released in 1996. Pam Ferris (Miss Trunchbull) incurred several injuries during the production on the film. The climactic scene where she is whacked by blackboard rubbers required her to keep her eyes open, causing chalk dust to get caught in her eyes and necessitating several trips to the hospital to get her eyes washed out. The scene where Trunchbull whirls Amanda Thripp (Jacqueline Steiger) by her pigtails required a harness to support the little girl, the wires of which were  threaded through the pigtails and then looped around Ferris's fingertips to give her grip. As she swung her around, the centrifugal force grew too great and tore the top part of Ferris' finger, requiring seven or eight stitches. The Crank House, in Altadena, stood in for Miss Trunchbull's house. The exterior of Matilda's house is located on Youngwood Drive in Whittier, while the library she visits is the Pasadena Public Library on East Walnut Street in Pasadena. Mara Wilson's mother, Suzie Wilson, was diagnosed with breast cancer during filming and died four months before the film ’s release. The film was dedicated to her memory. Danny DeVito revealed that prior to her death, he had shown her the final edit of the movie so that she was able to see Wilson’s performance in the movie. Music. Two songs are featured in the film. One of them, "Send Me on My Way" by Rusted Root, is played twice: when four-year-old Matilda is left alone at her house, making pancakes, and at the end of the film, set to a montage of Matilda and Miss Honey playing at Miss Trunchbull's former house. The other  song is Thurston Harris' "Little Bitty Pretty One", played when Matilda is learning to control her telekinetic powers. The film's original score was composed by David Newman, a frequent collaborator of DeVito. Release. The film was released on August 2, 1996 and grossed $33.5 million in the United States against a production budget of $36 million. Home media. The film was released on VHS in pan and scan and LaserDisc in widescreen on December 17, 1996 from Columbia TriStar Home Video. In 1997, it was released on a bare-bones dual sided DVD containing fullscreen and widescreen . Another DVD rendition with more special features was released in 2005. In August 2013, Wilson and most of her costars from the film had a reunion to celebrate its 17th anniversary and it being released on Blu-ray. The reunion was featured in the Blu-ray release. Reception. As of September 2020, on Rotten Tomatoes, "Matilda" had an approval rating of 90% based on 21 reviews with an average rating of 7.48/10. The website's critical consensus read, "Danny DeVito-directed version of "Matilda" is odd, charming, and while the movie diverges from Roald Dahl, it nonetheless captures the book 's spirit." On Metacritic, as of September 2020, the film had a score of 72 out of 100 based on reviews from 21 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews." Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade B+ on scale of A to F. Writing for "Empire", Caroline Westbrook gave the film a rating of three stars and praised DeVito's clever direction. Roger Ebert of "Chicago Sun-Times" praised the film's oddity, gave it three stars out of four and wrote: Potential sequel. In November 2019, DeVito said that he "always wanted to" develop a sequel to "Matilda ," adding that a potential sequel could star Matilda's own child, due to Wilson having grown up after the film's release.