Matilda (1996 film)

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Matilda (1996)

Directed by	Danny DeVito
Produced by	Danny DeVito Michael Shamberg Stacey Sher Liccy Dahl
Written by	Roald Dahl (novel) Nicholas Kazan Robin Swicord
Starring	Mara Wilson Danny DeVito Rhea Perlman Embeth Davidtz
Distributed by	TriStar Pictures
Release date(s)	August 2 1996
Running time	102 minutes
Language	English
Budget	~ US$36,000,000
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Matilda is a 1996 film directed by Danny DeVito. It is based on Roald Dahl's children's novel. The film was released by TriStar Pictures.

1 Plot
2 Film vs. Book
3 Cast
4 DVD re-release
5 Trivia
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] Plot

See Matilda (novel) for the plot.

[edit] Film vs. Book

One major difference between the novel and the film is the setting. In the novel, Matilda lives in England where Roald Dahl grew up (although a native of Wales). In the movie, Matilda lives in the USA and most of the film was shot in the East Whittier district of Los Angeles, California. The only character to remain British in the film is Agatha Trunchbull played by Pam Ferris

Considering the original work was a short, fairly thin story, much was added to bring it up to feature length, including a scene where Matilda retrieves Miss Honey's old doll from the Trunchbull's mansion. In the original book, Matilda's mother is not given a first name, but she is in the film, and the physical builds of Matilda's parents are inverted in the film.

Matilda's brother is also changed. In the book, he is seen as normal and has little dialogue in the book and at the end, when he leaves with his parents for Spain, he waves his sister goodbye. In the film, his character is more active, is mean to his little sister and is fat like his father, and spoiled (it must be noted though that in the book, Matilda's brother is not physically described but the Quentin Blake illustration from the book shows that he is skinny like his sister. In the book, it is not implied on whether he is mean to his sister or not). In the movie, he actually is given comeuppance by his sister when she uses her powers for a few different punishments, where he gets cake splattered all over him or gets a carrot shot into his mouth.

Also, in the book Miss Honey lives in a miserable bare cottage without electricity or running water, but in the film her cottage is much nicer and cosier. She is also given the nickname "Bumblebee" which is not mentioned in the novel. Also Matilda loses her powers in the book. In the film, she still has her powers at the end (but only uses them for trivial things like getting a book off a shelf.)

Also, the film shows only two pranks that Matilda plays on her father as "punishment for being bad": putting superglue on the band of his hat and mixing her mother's peroxide into her father's hair lotion. In the book, there is an extra prank in which Matilda borrows a parrot from a friend and puts in her chimney for the evening and so when the parrot speaks, the rest of the family believes that there is a burglar or a ghost in the house. However, this could have been cut because the other two pranks have a more lasting effect, or perhaps over fears of portraying cruelty to animals.

[edit] Cast

Actor	Role
Mara Wilson	Matilda Wormwood
Danny DeVito	Harry Wormwood
Rhea Perlman	Zinnia Wormwood
Embeth Davidtz	Jennifer Honey
Pam Ferris	Agatha Trunchbull
Paul Reubens	FBI Agent Bob
Tracey Walter	FBI Agent Bill
Brian Levinson	Michael Wormwood

[edit] DVD re-release

The special edition DVD was released on June 7, 2005. It comes with a full two hours of bonus features, including games and featurettes.

[edit] Trivia

A cameo appearance in Matilda, Jon Lovitz is shown as the host of the imaginary game show, Million Dollar Sticky.
The fact that Matilda tells Ms. Honey at the end of the movie (a mouse's heart beats so fast that it sounds like it's humming) is a reference to another of Roald Dahl's books, The Witches.
This film was spoofed in I Am Weasel, episode "Leave it to Weasel".
The picture of Miss Honey's father, Magnus, is actually a portrait of Roald Dahl, the author of the book upon which the film is based.
Miss Honey tells Matilda that as a child Miss Honey had a doll named Liccy Doll. One of the producers of the film is author Roald Dahl's widow, Liccy Dahl.
One of the lunchboxes reads, "Greeting from Asbury Park, New Jersey", a reference to Danny DeVito's hometown. "Greetings from Asbury Park, New Jersey" is also the name of Bruce Springsteen's first album, and the name of professional wrestler Bam Bam Bigelow's finisher.
At one point in the movie, Matilda's brother can be seen wearing a Napalm Death T-shirt.
When Matilda is running through the closet a mop falls on her and on the bottom of the screen, you can see a camera shadow.
Around the beginning of the movie, as Matilda's father is listing the prices of the cars he sold, and Matlida says the sum is 10,265 dollars, she is actually off by two thousand dollars, for the real profit Mr. Wormwood made was 12,265 dollars.