It is based more on that than on what Dahl wrote.

This film version is a very good adaptation of the musical. The ideal adaptation, for me, would be somewhere in between the 1996 film and the musical. However, there are some weird derivations from Dahl's text that don't add up to anything useful and detract from the narrative. I love its tone and sense of humor, and I certainly prefer its British-ness to the Americanization of the earlier film. I have both the London and Broadway cast recordings of the musical and saw it on tour at a significant distance from very bad seats way in the back. So I saw it today.įor context, I am a big fan of Matilda going back to the novel. Deadline said that it is on about 120 screens, but of course Netflix isn't releasing an official theater count or box office grosses.įortunately, the same theater that booked Glass Onion a few weeks ago near me also booked Matilda this weekend. Netflix is giving this a limited theatrical release in the United States this weekend prior to the streaming launch on Christmas. It looks like this one was also made by Sony, so hopefully there will be a disc release down the road if it's decent. One of those is climate southern California was just a bit too idyllic looking at times in that movie. I love the Danny DeVito film adaptation, which was about as faithful as an Americanized version could be, but there are certain cultural signifiers that just don't translate. Love the use of movement and depth, and the way they really made the interiors of Crunchem Hall feel like a cross between a prison and a Victorian-era workhouse. I figured it was a deliberate choice given the Wormwoods' working class background, but apparently the West End productions always just went with the kids' natural accents since the kids were actually British. Alisha Weir is Irish, but her English accent as Matilda sounds a bit posher than I expected. Saw this during its Broadway run with Eliza Holland Madore in the title role for my performance, and she played the role with a light Cockney accent. Lashana Lynch is outside the box casting as Miss Honey, but she's a great actress and I look forward to seeing what she does with the part.

They spent a fortune on creature makeup just to make Emma Thompson look like Pam Ferris circa 1996. Kind of bummed that they didn't bring Bertie Carvel back to play Trunchbull.

Matilda netflix 2022