Archives: A
- E F - N O
- Z Posters Who
We Are and Why We Do What We Do
BLU-RAY DVDs
Batman Begins
Black Hawk Down
Blade Runner
Casino Royale
Dark Knight
District Nine
Defiance
Fast and Furious
Fast and Furious movies set
Fifth Element
The Hangover
Incredible HULK
Inglorious Basterds
Iron Man
Kill Bill 1 & 2
James Bond Ultimate ed v1James Bond Ultimate ed v2James Bond Ultimate ed v3
Julie & Julia
Moon
Public Enemies
Rambo box set
Silence of the Lambs
Sin City
This is Spinal Tap
Terminator
Terminator Salvation
Terminator 2
Top Gun
Total Recall
300
Transformers: Revenge of Fallen
Ultimate Matrix coll
Twilight
Underworld
Watchmen (dir cut)
X-Men Trilogy
X-Men Wolverine
BLU-Ray for family DVDs
Bolt
A Bug's Life
Cars
Chronicles of Narnia set
Coraline
Ghostbusters
Harry Potter & Chamber of Secrets
& Goblet of Fire
& Order of Phoenix
& Prisoner of Azkaban
& Sorcerers Stone
Ice Age/Alvin + Chipmunks set
The Incredibles
Jungle Book
Juno
Kung Fu Panda
Monsters Inc
Nightmare Before Xmas
101 Dalmatians
Pinocchio
Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy
Pixar short films
Ratatouille
Santa Clause
Santa Clause 2
Sleeping Beauty
Spiderwick Chronicles
Sleeping Beauty
Snow White & 7 Dwarfs
Star Trek motion pictures set
Star Wars Prequel Trilogy (1-3)
Star Wars Trilogy (4-6)
Transformers SE
Wallace and Gromit
Wall-E SE
We're Kidlet Safe
Search engine
by FreeFind
click to search site
Now in Release:
Alice in Wonderland
An Education
Avatar
Blind Side, the
Brooklyn's Finest
Green Zone
How to Train Your Dragon
Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
The Proposal
Red Clif
She's Out of My League
A Single Man
Waking Sleeping Beauty
DVDs on Sale:
An American in Paris
Batman
Begins
Blade
Runner
Blind Side
The Dark Knight
Day the Earth Stood Still
Die Hard collection 1-4
District Nine
Forrest
Gump
Gone
With the Wind
The Hangover
Indiana
Jones trilogy
Inglorious Basterds
Lord
of Rings trilogy
Ultimate
Matrix set
Monty
Python - Holy Grail
Moon
South
Park Movie
Star
Wars Trilogy (1-3)
Star
Wars Trilogy (4-6)
Terminator Salvation
Up
Wall-E
Watchmen - Ultimate cut
Woodstock
X-Men
Trilogy
X-Men Origins Wolverine
DisneyPixar/family DVDs
Alice
in Wonderland
Bambi
Beauty
and the Beast
Beverly Hills Chihuahua
Bolt
Cinderella
Coraline
E.T.
Harry
Potter yrs 1-4 set
Harry Potter
& Chamber of Secrets
& Goblet of Fire
& Prisoner of Azkaban
& Sorcerers Stone
& Order of Phoenix
Kung Fu Panda
The
Lion King
Mary
Poppins 45th LE
Pinocchio
Ratatouille
Shrek Trilogy
Simpsons Movie
Spider-Man Trilogy
Star Trek movies set
Star
Trek TOS (TV)
ST:TNG complete tv set
Star Wars Trilogy (1-3)
Star
Wars Trilogy (4-6)
Wallace and Gromit
Wall-E SE
Looney
Toons
Golden Age DVD
Volume
1
Volume
2
Volume
3
Volume 4
Volume 5
Volume 6
Rocky & Bullwinkle DVD
Season
1
Season
2
Season
3
Popeye the Sailor DVD
v.1 1933 - 1938
v.2 1938 - 1940
v.3 1941 - 1943
75th anniversary coll.ed.
Starring Mara Wilson, Rhea Perlman, Danny DeVito,
Embeth Davidtz, Pam Ferris, Paul Reubens, and Tracey Walter
Directed by Danny DeVito
Matilda is based on the novel by Roald Dahl (James and the Giant Peach and Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory). Cranky, as always, makes no comparisons to the source material.
Danny DeVito's two earlier films, Throw Momma from the Train and War of the Roses, show he has a wonderful love for the dysfunctional family and characters over the edge of the normal. Matilda had Cranky, and the audience around him, giggling in their seats. It wasn't because the characters do funny things. They don't. It was because they do disgustingly awful things in very over-exaggerated manners.
Matilda Wormwood (Mara Wilson) is an exceptional child of exceptionally self-centered and selfish parents. When she was born, they welshed on the $5,000 hospital bill. "What'll they do, take the kid back?" says proud papa Harry (Danny DeVito). Zinnia Wormwood, Matilda's mom (Rhea Perlman), is dressed in latter day cheap. It is a hilariously contemptuous portrait of a dysfunctional American family -- the Wormwood's favorite television show is a game in which the contestants are smeared with glue and let loose inside one of those booths where dollar bills are whipped through the air by fans. Back to the title character . . .
At age 2, Matilda was taking care of herself, feeding, dressing -- the works. At age 4 she was reading. By age 6 she had gone through all the books in the children's library and was working on the big kids' books. For Matilda, going to school is a joy -- until she gets there.
Her dad has sold another lemon to the proverbial pit bull headmistress of a private school called Crunchem Hall. A former Olympian (Munich 1972, a not-so-subtle reference dripping with bile) in shot put, javelin and the non-existent women's hammer-throw, Trunchbull strides the halls and school grounds carrying a well-used riding crop. She punishes the children by locking them in a closet (called "The Choker") and, from time to time, has been known to toss a kid out the window.
Matilda's only adult anchor in the school is the lovely Miss Honey (Embeth Davidtz), who has problems of her own. Add to the mix Matilda's own discovery of telekinetic powers and the story goes over the top, too. Matilda is a fantasy based in grim reality and the absurdity of it all works very nicely.
Rhea Perlman's mother sets a new definition for the word "tacky." Director Danny DeVito is exemplary cheeseball sleaze. But kudos above all must go to Pam Ferris as Agatha Trunchbull, headmistress of Crunchem Hall. If ever there was a creation so perfect in summing up the hated teacher with a temperament braised in the fire pits of Hell, I haven't seen it.
And how could I not like a film which sneaks in a visual reference to Bruce Springsteen's Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ album?
The only negative is that the film tends to drag a bit in the second half. But it's a small negative. Matilda may be a wee bit talky for the littlest of kidlets, but there is nothing here that you would need to shield your child from. Highly recommended for the kids.
On average, a first run movie ticket will run you Eight Bucks. Were Cranky able to set his own price for Matilda, he would have paid . . .
$7.50
If I had kids (heck, if I even had a date) I would have little problem sitting through Matilda twice. Highly recommended for adults, too. See the movie. Buy the book. Compare and contrast its English setting with the American adaptation.
Sorry. That school stuff comes bobbing up from time to time . . .
 |
Click to buy films by Danny DeVito |
| Click to buy films starring Rhea Perlman | |
| Click to buy films starring Mara Wilson |