Some movies get better every time you watch them, and this is one of the rare few. I loved it as a kid, then watched it again as an adult and still love the magic it possesses. That almost never happens with family movies.
The setup is simple and a little cruel: a brilliant little girl stuck with the worst possible family. Her parents ignore her and her school is run by a headmistress who genuinely seems to hate children. But she has one thing that’s all hers: her books.
Mara Wilson is the heart of it. She plays Matilda as smart and kind without ever tipping into annoying, which is harder than it sounds. Then there’s Pam Ferris as Miss Trunchbull, a villain who is genuinely scary and weirdly hilarious at once. You can’t look away.
Danny DeVito directed, and he gives it a storybook look: warm colors, sets pushed just past normal, like you’re living inside one of the illustrations. He voices the narrator too, which only pulls you in deeper.
What I love most is how the telekinesis never becomes a big superhero moment.
The film takes kids seriously. It doesn’t pretend childhood is all sunshine, but it never gets preachy. It stays funny and hopeful the whole way through.
If you’ve never seen it, or it’s been years, then treat yourself.
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