Roald Dahl’s 1988 novel tells of a child genius in a small English village who’s blessed with the kind of extraordinary brainpower that can change the world.
Emma Thompson, left, and Alisha Weir in the movie“ Roald Dahl’ s Matilda the Musical.”.
Sit around watching the idiot box night after night and you might become as crooked, ignorant and unrepentantly vulgar as Mr. and Mrs. Wormwood , the most unworthy parents of a young girl of astounding intelligence and imagination named Matilda .Given the fairy-tale extremes and cruel ironies that tend to govern Dahl’s storybook universe, the Wormwoods’ exceptional stupidity may be precisely what gave Matilda her prodigiously gifted mind.
And beneath those pleasures is a potent underlay of feeling: As pastel hues fill the screen and perky melodies and wicked-smart lyrics flood the soundtrack, a tale of a child’s tragic neglect and deep longing comes into focus. At the same time, one of Matilda’s most appealing qualities is her allergy to self-pity, her calm insistence that every kid deserves, and can exact, a measure of justice.
Fortunately, even before the story’s clever swerve into Stephen King territory, Matilda has two benevolent adult counterweights to the meanness and indifference that her parents and the Trunchbull represent. One is Matilda’s kindhearted teacher, the aptly named Miss Honey , who does her best to protect her students from the headmistress’ psychotic wrath. The other is Mrs.
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