Beloved for its wicked irreverence, Matilda has been stirring the naughty imaginations of kids the world over since Roald Dahl published the story in 1988.
It’s exactly the tale, with its outlandish characters and over-the-top scenarios, that lends itself to a musical adaptation, which Dennis Kelly and Tim Minchin very successfully did more than a decade ago.
What’s surprising is not that the musical is now a film but that it took so long to happen – studios love a familiar title with a built-in audience, they’re seemingly less risky propositions.
Of course, the flip side of that is when you have something of which fans have such a strong impression, you have to nail it, or at least not stuff it up. Matilda the Musical is somewhere in the middle.
It’s a toe-tapping and dynamic musical with a touch of whimsy. Maybe the whimsy is what’s odd about it, because Matilda should be less whimsical and more just weird.
There’s an edge to Dahl’s book, a mischievous spirit bordering on vicious. The film version files that back a little, maybe to appease the more sensitive approach to kids’ entertainment in 2022.
But then in other ways, Matilda the Musical is more emotionally mature and resonant, particularly thanks to a thoughtful and powerful performance from Lashana Lynch as Miss Honey.
Lynch’s most high-profile roles has been as tough, action-driven characters in No Time To Die, Captain Marvel and The Woman King, and it’s so impressive to see her as the soft, introverted teacher.
If, for some wild, inexplicable reason, you don’t know Matilda, the story is centred on a young girl with a genius intellect. Matilda’s (Alisha Weir) ridiculous parents (Stephen Graham and Andrea Riseborough) are so preoccupied with their own vanities they’ve neglected their daughter and see her only as a nuisance.
Matilda voraciously reads every book she comes across, loaning from the mobile library of Ms Phelps (Sindhu Vee), escaping into the wondrous worlds of the pages beyond her dim little life.
When Matilda is sent to school, she discovers cruelty in the form of the severe Miss Trunchbull (Emma Thompson), a headmistress with an intense hatred for children, or in her words, “maggots”.
Trunchbull is a cartoonishly imposing figure who barks pronouncements and dreams up horrific punishments for the students, such as time-out in the “chokey”, a barbaric outhouse.
At its core, Matilda is a story about kindness winning over malice, but through the wild antics of what happens when kids fight back against an authoritarian figure. There’s always been a touch of the Peter Pan in the story, but with more newts.
This film version captures the verve and energy of the story, injected with the playful songs of the stage production.
The performances from Thompson, Graham and Riseborough are high camp, the kids are charming, and Weir has strong screen presence. But it really is Lynch who’s the MVP, grounding the often-outrageous story with real emotionality.
Matilda the Musical may not be as fierce and feisty as Dahl’s book – almost every adaptation has toned it down – but it’s still plenty entertaining.
Rating: 3/5
Matilda the Musical is in cinemas now and streaming on Netflix from December 25