Matilda the Musical (2022, PG)

The original cast recording for the stage show was my introduction to Matilda as a story, having been intrigued by their Tony performance and fallen in love with “Naughty” after seeing a video of a quartet of Matildas perform it at the Olivier Awards. I’d read other Roald Dahl books as a kid, but never that one. It was only in the last year or so that I caught up with the original novel and then the 1996 movie adaptation. But now things have come full circle with a movie musical adaptation, care of Netflix.

The musical tells the story of Matilda Wormwood, a 5-year-old genius born to a depressingly ordinary family that couldn’t care less about her extraordinary abilities.  Matters worsen when she starts school and comes face to face with the tyrannical Miss Trunchbull, whose strictness and inhumane punishments keep the student body in fear, and it’s up to Matilda to stand up to the Man (or Woman, in this case.)

I loved this adaptation. The past couple of years have offered up a wealth of genuinely terrific movie musicals. (Granted, I haven’t been able to bring myself to watch Dear Evan Hansen, so my sampling is biased, but thinking about In the Heights, tick, tick…BOOM!, and West Side Story last year, I stand by it.) The musical numbers explode with energy and personality—the kid ensemble is super talented and wonderfully synchronized, handling tricky group numbers like “School Song” and “Bruce” with aplomb. The dancing is terrific, and there’s a good mix of big wild performances, plot-driven songs, and fantasy sequences. “Bruce,” “Quiet,” and “My House” are standouts, and I’m always down for “Revolting Children.” The new song written for the movie, “Still Holding My Hand,” is gorgeously touching.

The film never drags between numbers, and the book scenes have just as much humor and heart as the songs. My knowledge of the musical is limited to the cast recording, so I don’t know what book changes might’ve been made in the shift from stage to screen, but it all feels good to me. It does have some significant differences from the novel, and at times seems to take inspiration from both it and the 1996 movie while still putting its own spin on things.

Alisha Weir is utterly fantastic as Matilda. She’s brilliant and precocious but always feels like a kid, which I think is so important in portrayals of child geniuses. I love watching her Matilda put things together as she observes them and plans her “naughty” retribution. A lot of Matilda’s classmates don’t have a ton of dimension, but the young actors differentiate them within their limited lines—I never had issues with who was who. After having seen Lashana Lynch play several badasses, I was excited to see her take on a very different sort of role as Miss Honey, and she’s wonderful. Quiet and often frightened, but she’s so gentle and kind, and that’s a strength of its own. Lynch is such a pleasure to watch in this film, and she also gets my vote for Singing MVP in a cast full of good voices. Emma Thompson 100% goes for it as Miss Trunchbull, going from ridiculous to scary and back again numerous times over the course of the film. The movie also features Stephen Graham and Andrea Riseborough as Matilda’s repellant parents.

Warnings

Strong thematic elements (including child abuse and neglect,) violence (though most of it is of the over-the-top variety,) mild language, and some “don’t try this at home.”