Matilda (1996)

Story of a wonderful little girl, who happens to be a genius, and her wonderful teacher vs. the worst parents ever and the worst school principal imaginable.

Director:

Danny DeVito

Writers:

Roald Dahl (book), Nicholas Kazan (screenplay)

Stars:

Danny DeVito, Rhea Perlman, Mara Wilson

3 wins & 7 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Mara Wilson	...	Matilda
Danny DeVito	...	Mr. Wormwood / Narrator
Rhea Perlman	...	Mrs. Wormwood
Embeth Davidtz	...	Miss Honey
Pam Ferris	...	Trunchbull
Paul Reubens	...	FBI Agent
Tracey Walter	...	FBI Agent
Brian Levinson	...	Michael
Jean Speegle Howard	...	Miss Phelps
Sara Magdalin	...	Matilda, 4 Years
R.D. Robb	...	Roy
Gregory R. Goliath	...	Luther (as Goliath Gregory)
Fred Parnes	...	Waiter
Kiami Davael	...	Lavender
Leor Livneh Hackel	...	Julius Rottwinkle

Storyline

Matilda Wormwood is an exquisite and intelligent little girl. Unfortunately, Matilda is misunderstood by her family because she is very different from their ways of life. As time passes, Matilda finally starts school that has a kindly teacher, loyal friends and a sadistic principal. As she gets fed up with the constant cruelty, Matilda begins to realize that she has a gift of telekinetic powers. After some days of practice, Matilda suddenly turns the tables to stand up to her parents and outwit the principal.

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Plot Keywords:

villainess | library | anger | watching tv | woman wears eyeglasses | 

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Taglines:

Somewhere inside all of us is the power to change the world.

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Genres:

Comedy | Family | Fantasy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for elements of exaggeRated meanness and ridicule, and for some mild language

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

2 August 1996 (USA)

Also Known As:

Roald Dahl's Matilda

Filming Locations:

2186 East Crary Street, Altadena, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$36,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$8,209,000, 4 August 1996, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$33,084,249, 1 December 1996

Company Credits

Production Co:

TriStar Pictures, Jersey Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SDDS (8 channels) Dolby Digital

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Mara Wilson's mom Suzie Shapiro Wilson died of breast cancer while the movie was being filmed. Mara honored her mother by bravely finishing "Matilda", which was dedicated to Suzie's memory.

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Goofs

When Matilda is trying to shut the door with her "powers", she is thinking of all the times others mistreated her. During her flashback you see her mother saying "There's something wrong with that girl," while dying her hair and you can see Matilda is in the background. But when the scene happened earlier in the film, Matilda walks away before her mother says it.

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Quotes

Zinnia Wormwood: [cutting off Harry's hat with scissors] I still don't see how you glued your hat on, Harry. I mean, I know you say you didn't, but obviously, you did.
Harry Wormwood: I did *not* glue my hat to my head! The hat shrunk! The fibers fused to my hair!

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Crazy Credits

Newts:

• Mr. Speaker
• Sir Isaac
• Wayne

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Connections

References Suspiria (1977)

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Soundtracks

Send Me On My Way
Written by Michael Glabicki, Liz Berlin, John Buynak, Jim DiSpirito (as James Dispirito, James DiSpirito), Jim Donovan (as James Donovan), Patrick Norman, and Jenn Wertz
Performed by Rusted Root
Courtesy of Mercury Records
By Arrangement with PolyGram Film & TV Licensing

User Reviews

the best "family movie" i've ever seen!

personally, i hate nauseatingly cute family movies, but this movie is great! I went to see it in the theatre because i had read the book, but i thought that it wouldn't even come close to it. But you know what? I enjoyed this movie more than the novel! I thought it wouldn't be faithful to the book and that it would have turned out to be one of those typical kids' movies, but there's nothing "cute" about mrs. Trunchbull! This has got to be one of my favorite films ever and it IS the best childrens' movie ever made. I definitely recommend this movie to anyone who has his heart in the right place!