Matilda

Theatrical Release Date: 1996 08 02 (USA)

UPC: 043396013537

Studio: Columbia TriStar

MPAA Rating: PG   Contains:[Mild Violence, Excellent For Children]

Summary: 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. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Category: Children's/Family

Features: cc Mara's Movie About Making Matilda
Matilda's Movie Magic
A Children's Guide to Good Manners
Escape to the Library!
Matilda read-along
Classroom games - the Spelling Bee and the Math Game
A Truly Terrible Test!
Make Magic With Matilda!
Terrify the Trunchbull!
The Matilda character gallery
Get Rid of Mrs. Trunchbull! - trivia game
Bonus trailers
Animated menus

Matilda

Format: DVD

Release Date: 06/07/2005

Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Pre-1954 Standard

Audio: DD5.1 Dolby Digital 5.1, DDS Dolby Digital Surround

Runtime: 98 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English,French,Spanish

Subtitles: English,French,Spanish

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Side #1 --
1. Start
2. A Rather Extraordinary Child
3. "Send Me on My Way"
4. In Search of a Book
5. Her First Practical Advice
6. Hair Tonic
7. Wormwood Motors
8. Cafe Le Ritz
9. The Million Dollar Sticky
10. Crunchem Hall
11. Amanda Thripp
12. Miss Honey
13. Miss Honey Pays a Visit
14. Bruce Bogtrotter
15. The Newt
16. Miss Honey's Story
17. Afraid of Black Cats
18. "Let's Go Get Your Doll."
19. The Chase
20. "Little Bitty Pretty One"
21. Lissy Doll
22. Terrifying Miss Trunchbull
23. No More Miss Nice Girl
24. "A Child Was in My House!"
25. Haunted Chalkboard
26. Trunchbull Goes for a Spin
27. Pelting the Trunchbull
28. Adopting Matilda

Michael Costello

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. ~ Michael Costello, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Danny DeVito  Director 
Danny DeVito  Producer 
Martin Bregman  Executive Producer 
Nicholas Kazan  Screenwriter 
David Newman  Composer (Music Score) 
Michael Peyser  Executive Producer 
Michael Shamberg  Producer 
Stacey Sher  Producer 
Robin Swicord  Screenwriter 
Liccy Dahl  Producer 
Michael Siegel  Producer 
Mara Wilson  Actor 
Danny DeVito  Actor 
Rhea Perlman  Actor 
Embeth Davidtz  Actor 
Pam Ferris  Actor 
Paul Reubens  Actor 
Kira Spencer Hesser  Actor 
Kiami Davael  Actor 
Tracey Walter  Actor 
Brian Levinson  Actor 
Jean Speegle Howard  Actor 
Jon Lovitz  Actor 
Fred Scialla  Actor 

Country: USA