Matilda (1996)
Directed by Danny DeVito
Matilda Wormwood is an brilliant and intelligent little girl. Unfortunately, her parents, Harry and Zinnia, fail to see that fact. As time passes, she finally starts school and has a kind teacher, loyal friends, and a terrifying, sadistic headmistress. As she becomes fed up with the constant cruelty, she discovers she has a special gift that she just might be able to use to outwit the unruly adults around her.
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9 films that influenced Matilda
What critics say influenced Matilda
Pee Wee Herman and Tracey Walter ("Repo Man") are truly wasted as a pair of FBI agents -- inspired casting cast adrift.
She is compared to Cruela DeVille in "101 Dalmatians."
Wide-eyed, sweet-faced Mara Wilson ("Miracle on 34th Street") is perfect as the precocious Matilda Wormwood, a brilliant, eager-to-learn child who must face the harsh reality of uncaring and loutish parents--wonderfully overplayed by actor/producer/director Danny DeVito and "Sunset Park's" Rhea Perlman.
Mara Wilson, who lit up the screen as Robin Williams' daughter in Mrs. Doubtfire, and captured the Natalie Wood role in the remake of A Miracle on 34th Street, is enchanting without being either sickeningly adorable or unbearably irritating.
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Embeth Davidtz ("Schindler's List") is all glowing purity as Miss Honey, Matilda's kind and encouraging teacher with a secret past.
Doubtfire) and the relationship Matilda establishes with her fragile teacher Miss Honey (Schindler's List's Embeth Davidtz, glowing from within).
There, Matilda discovers friends, a mentor (Embeth Davidtz, from "Schindler's List," playing a sympathetic first-grade teacher) and telekinetic powers.
He is fascinated by dark, twisted things, as one can tell from the movie he made immediately before The War of the Roses, Throw Momma from the Train, and from his 1996 adaptation of Roald Dahl's Matilda .
Consider that his previous directing credits include “Throw Momma From the Train” and “ The War of the Roses ,” and you sense that he has some kind of deep mordant fascination for dysfunctional families (the family life in his “ Hoffa ” was not exactly functional, either).
Throw Momma From the Train, The War of the Roses, and Hoffa rank among his best; Death to Smoochy and Envy ... ok, not so much.
The broad, in-your-face directing style (slightly modulated here) that DeVito used to wearying effect in his previous comedies -- "Throw Momma from the Train" and "The War of the Roses" -- turns out to be perfect for translating Dahl's grotesquerie to the screen.
Consider that his previous directing credits include “Throw Momma From the Train” and “ The War of the Roses ,” and you sense that he has some kind of deep mordant fascination for dysfunctional families (the family life in his “ Hoffa ” was not exactly functional, either).
Throw Momma From the Train, The War of the Roses, and Hoffa rank among his best; Death to Smoochy and Envy ... ok, not so much.
She reminded me forcefully of Ursula from Disney's animated The Little Mermaid.
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Consider that his previous directing credits include “Throw Momma From the Train” and “ The War of the Roses ,” and you sense that he has some kind of deep mordant fascination for dysfunctional families (the family life in his “ Hoffa ” was not exactly functional, either).
Throw Momma From the Train, The War of the Roses, and Hoffa rank among his best; Death to Smoochy and Envy ... ok, not so much.