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 Pam Ferris 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.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 DVD re-release 4 Trivia 5 External links

[edit] Plot

See Matilda (novel) for the plot.

One major difference between the novel and the film is the setting. In the novel, Matilda lives in England where Roald Dahl lived (although his parents were Norwegian and he grew up in 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 (the antagonist) 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 reversed 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 stated whether or not he is mean to Matilda). 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, when the family is moving, the book says they are moving to Spain. But in the movie, they are moving to Guam.

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 cozier. She is also given the nickname "Bumblebee" which is not mentioned in the novel. Another change in Miss Honey is that in the book, she wears glasses, but she does not in the film (except when she uses it to check Matilda's calculation). 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 fictitious 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 the late professional wrestler Bam Bam Bigelow's finisher.
• In both the book and film Matilda reveals her fondness for Charles Dickens. However, in the film, when revealing this to Miss Honey, she accidentally refers to him as "Dahl's Chickens"- an obvious nod to the Big Friendly Giant's mispronunciation of the same author in The BFG.
• 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.
• The car Agatha Trunchbull bought from Harry Wormwood is a 1970 Buick Electra 225 hardtop sedan.
• Pam Ferris would often stay in character when the director called cut in an attempt to actually scare the children on set so that their fear would be genuine when the camera was rolling.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] External links

• Matilda at the Internet Movie Database