Matilda the Musical Review: A Subversive Musical at Child’s Height
Cast: Alisha Weir, Emma Thompson, Lashana Lynch, Stephen Graham, Andrea Riseborough
Director: Matthew Warchus
Streaming Platform: Netflix
Filmyhype.com Ratings: 3.5/5 (three and a half star) [yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
On December 25, Roald Dahl’s Matilda The Musical arrives on Netflix, a musical adaptation of the famous children’s novel published by the British writer in 1988; a classic of children’s literature which in the 90s had already inspired the film Matilda 6 Mitica directed and interpreted by Danny DeVito, up to the musical by Tim Minchin and Dennis Kelly which debuted on the British stages starting from 2010 and which over the years subsequent he received international awards. The tender and funny film adaptation directed by Matthew Warchus is inspired by the Minchin and Kelly stage show.
In our review of Matilda The Musical we will focus on how much the Netflix film manages to do justice not only to the theatrical show from which it is strongly inspired but also by how the words and themes of Roald Dahl’s childhood story find new life here vital in the eyes of a television audience this time particularly transversal and transgenerational. The film directed by Matthew Warchus and inspired by the children’s novel by Roald Dahl is the story of an extraordinary little girl, intelligent and gifted with a vivid imagination, who does everything to change her gray life and that of her schoolmates, subjugated by the menacing presence of Headmistress Trinciabue.
Matilda the Musical Review: The Story Plot
Matilda Wormwood (Alisha Weir) is a little girl born under an unfortunate star: conceived by pure mistake by a couple of murderous and negligent parents (two hilarious Stephen Graham and Andrea Riseborough), from the earliest years of age she has always cultivated her greatest passion: reading books and the talent for creating imaginative and compelling stories. When the Wormwoods decide to send their daughter to Crunchem Hall children’s reformatory, Matilda will learn what it means to fight for her dreams and rebel against the adult world with the unexpected help of telekinesis and the sweetest Miss Honey (Lashana Lynch), teacher of the school in calm and respectful tones. In contrast to the fearsome Headmaster Agatha Trinciabue (Emma Thompson), a woman who deeply hates children and who hides a dark past.
The plot of Matilda The Musical certainly doesn’t stray from that introduced in Roald Dahl’s 1988 novel, nor from the 1990s cult movie starring Danny DeVito, although at the same time it uses the musical clef to emphasize some of the more intimate themes and burning of the literary work of the British writer. Based on the theatrical show by Tim Minchin and Dennis Kelly (the latter also the screenwriter of the film), the adaptation was signed by Netflix and entrusted to director Matthew Warchus (he had directed the stage musical of the same name in 2012, winning numerous awards) surprises, entertains and moves the right, establishing itself as one of the best film musicals of 2022.
Matilda the Musical Review and Analysis
“Adults always win dear children, you will always lose”, With these cruel words of prevarication and bullying, the Headmaster Agatha Trinciabue explains her programmatic manifesto against the little “worms” who populate her school: a small world made up of bad education, violence, oppression towards individuals who, abandoned from their neglectful parents, they find themselves living the most creative and important years of their very young lives within a microcosm of menacing, narrow-minded and indifferent adults.
A world that knows Matilda well, born of a father and a mother who never loved her, who never considered her part of the family, a burden from which not knowing what to do and to get rid, thus sending her straight to a school dominated by the menacing and histrionic presence of Agatha Trinciabue, a woman who deeply hates children but who with the arrival of the brilliant little Matilda will have to adapt to an unexpected rebellion on the way…
To free oneself from the formidable grip of Mrs. Trinciabue’s iron education, it is enough simply to start saying no, to rebel against the appalling punishments inflicted on the young pupils of the reformatory, to set up a general revolt which has the flavor of freedom and light-heartedness typical of childhood years. The generous teacher Honey takes care of balancing the dictatorial status quo of the Trinciabue, dedicated more to understanding and kind teaching than to the iron punishment of her little students; over time, Miss Honey and Matilda will form an alliance that will lead them to turn the tables on Crunchem Hall, to unearth a mysterious and tragic past that binds the schoolteacher and the evil principal and to change the fate of the school and the children forever his children.
Matilda The Musical perfectly preserves all the themes addressed by Roald Dahl’s novel, amplifying its precious meaning and teaching thanks to a musical parterre of catchy and spot-on songs: from the reform of the educational system to the eternal conflict between negligent parents and of love and understanding, the musical directed by Matthew Warchus speaks to an open heart perhaps more to an adult audience than to a child one, admonishing the former about the vital importance of healthy growth of one’s children.
A film that celebrates from a child’s height all the inexhaustible creativity and imagination of childhood, an inextinguishable fire which, if trampled on, can turn into an element of anarchy, of rebellion tout court against the world of adults who can doesn’t want to be silenced. If Emma Thompson in the role of Agatha Trinciabue surprises with histrionics and an amused sense of threat, Lashana Lynch (we have recently seen her as a woman of action in No Time To Die and The Woman King) surprises with genuine sweetness and singing talent, giving to the musical of Warchus his kindest and most touching soul.
Matilda, The Musical hits its cinematic goal perfectly, confirming the extraordinary modernity of the English writer’s novel and at the same time dressing it in a new and captivating dress that will make happy not only fans of the musical genre but also the most staunch detractors of the previous adaptation by DeVito from 1996. A small transversal triumph that we hope will get positive and deserved word of mouth on Netflix.
Matilda the Musical Review: The Last Words
Matilda The Musical inspired by Roald Dahl’s children’s novel is surprising for its subversive and rebellious spirit; despite the cumbersome relative of the previous film directed by Danny DeVito in the 90s, the Netflix version directed by Matthew Warchus entertains and moves the right, captivating viewers of all ages thanks to its captivating musical numbers and an Emma Thompson at her best his histrionics.
