Matilda [SteelBook] [Includes Digital Copy] [4K Ultra HD Blu-ray/Blu-ray]

Director: Danny DeVito Danny DeVito

Overview

Based on the book Matilda, by British children's author Roald Dahl, this film moves the setting from the U.K. to the U.S.; otherwise it follows the original closely. Matilda Wormwood (Mara Wilson) is an extremely curious and intelligent little girl who is very different from her low-brow, mainstream parents (Danny DeVito and real-life wife Rhea Perlman), who quite cruelly ignore her. As she grows older, she begins to discover that she has telekinetic powers. Not until a teacher shows her kindness for the first time does she realize that she can use those powers to do something about her sufferings and help her friends as well. Villains from the awful Miss Trunchbull (Pam Ferris), headmistress of her miserable school Crunchem Hall, to her parents and older brother begin to feel her ire. Look for Paul Reubens (aka Pee Wee Herman) in a small part as an FBI agent investigating Matilda's shady father.

Product Details

Release Date:	09/05/2023
UPC:	0043396632066
Original Release:	1996
Rating:	PG
Source:	Sony Pictures
Language:	English
Format:	Blu-ray
Sales rank:	8,325

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Mara Wilson	Matilda Wormwood
Danny DeVito	Harry Wormwood
Rhea Perlman	Zinnia Wormwood
Embeth Davidtz	Miss Honey
Pam Ferris	Agatha Trunchbull
Paul Reubens	FBI Agent
Tracey Walter	FBI Agent
Jean Speegle Howard	Miss Phelps
Brian Levinson	Michael Wormwood
Sara Magdalin	Four-Year-Old Matilda
R.D. Robb	Roy
Goliath Gregory	Luther
Fred Parnes	Waiter
Kiami Davael	Lavender
Leor Livneh Hackel	Julius Rottwinkle
Jacqueline Steiger	Amanda Thripp
Jimmy Karz	Bruce Bogtrotter
Liam Kearns	Charles
Mark Watson	Magnus
Kira Spencer Hesser	Hortensia
J.C. Alexander	Nearby Boy
Malone Brinton	Older Boy
Marion Dugan	Cookie
Joshua Alvarez	Child at Assembly
Max E. Blum	Child at Assembly
Erin M. Gray	Child at Assembly
Misty L. Oppenheim	Child in Assembly
Christopher Shepard Hughes	Child in Assembly,Child in Classroom
Rachel Lena Snow	Child in Assembly
Craig Lamar Traylor	Child in Classroom
Jennifer Key	Child in Classroom
Marty Bautista	Child in Classroom
Anthony Hernandez	Child in Classroom
Raina Cease	Child in Classroom
Jonathan Osser	Child in Classroom
Vinnie Buffolino	Child in Classroom
Marcella Sassano	Child in Classroom
Johnny Thomas III	Child in Classroom
Christel Khalil	Child in Classroom
Cassie Colaw	Child in Classroom
Justin Stout	Child in Classroom
Cindy Tran	Child in Classroom
Jonathan Feyer	Child in Classroom
Alissa Graham	Newborn Matilda,Newborn Matilda
Trevor Gallagher	Newborn Matilda,Newborn Matilda
Kayla Fredericks	Nine-Months Old Matilda,Nine-Months Old Matilda
Amanda Fein	Toddler Matilda,Toddler Matilda
Nicholas Cox	Six-Year-Old Michael
Amanda Summers	Two-Year-Old Miss Honey,Two-Year-Old Miss Honey
Phoebe Pearl	Five-Year-Old Miss Honey
Kathy Barbour	Million $ Sticky Showgirl
Donna Spangler	Million $ Sticky Showgirl
Marianne Curan	Million $ Sticky Contestant
Penny Holland	Million $ Sticky Contestant
Richard E. Coe	Million $ Sticky Contestant
Sabrina Bryan	Girl
Simon Jones	Shellhammer
Jon Lovitz	Million $ Sticky Host
Fred Scialla	Stand-In
Pee-Wee Herman	Actor
David Newman	Composer

Technical Credits

Nicholas Kazan

Robin Swicord

Danny DeVito	Director,Producer
Nicholas Kazan	Screenwriter
Robin Swicord	Screenwriter
Liccy Dahl	Producer
Stacey Sher	Producer
Michael Shamberg	Producer
Martin Bregman	Executive Producer
Michael Peyser	Executive Producer
Michael Siegel	Producer
David Kelson	Sound Mixer

Editorial Reviews

Erstwhile Taxi tyrant turned filmmaker Danny DeVito is a good choice to bring Roald Dahl's book to the screen. They seem to be kindred spirits, with similar sensibilities for dark comedy built around those moments in life when horrible and unexplainable things happen. Matilda, for instance, has the bad luck to be born to the neglectful Wormwoods -- DeVito and real-life wife Rhea Perlman -- who discourage her love of books. Then, she is sent to a Dickensian school run by the monstrous Miss Trunchbill (Pam Ferris). But Matilda (the adorable Mara Wilson) turns tragedy to triumph with the help of the compassionate teacher Miss Honey (Embeth Davidtz) and her own special telekinetic gifts. Matilda is rated PG for "exaggerated meanness and ridicule." This includes harrowing scenes of the verbally abusive Trunchbull shot-putting children out the window. But this just makes Matilda's Carrie-esque revenge all the sweeter. What makes the DVD Special Edition such a delight are the kid-friendly bonus features: among them, Wilson's own video diary of life on a movie set, an amusing "Guide to Good Manners" comprising scenes from the film, and a welcome segment extolling the virtues of the public library. Behind-the-scenes segments reveal the secrets of stunts and special effects, but as DeVito advises, watch the movie first. Lemony Snickett has nothing on Dahl when it comes to plucky children triumphing over unfortunate events. Devotees of the Dahl canon will appreciate DeVito's fidelity to the author's macabre vision.

Barnes & Noble - Donald Liebenson

The mordant vision of author Roald Dahl's world probably appealed to the director of War of the Roses and Hoffa, for it permeates this witty, eccentric, dark-toned children's film for adults. Matilda (Mara Wilson), an unusually bright six-year-old whose reading fare runs to Moby Dick and For Whom the Bell Tolls, is saddled with a pair of comically selfish and obtuse parents (Danny De Vito and Rhea Perlman) whom she has to persuade to allow her to go to school. But her teacher, the child-hating Miss Trunchbull Pam Ferris, proves no more enlightened than her parents. This hilariously exaggerated, Lewis Carroll-like version of the world is probably not too far from what many children may feel on a bad day. De Vito and Perlman camp it up outrageously and Ferris gives a terrific performance as a cartoonish villain. Cinematographer Stefan Czapsky shoots from a number of strange angles, making this perhaps the first expressionist film for children.

All Movie Guide - Michael Costello