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Matilda

Matilda

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Product Info Reviews

Features:
  • Color
  • Closed-captioned
  • Dolby


Description:

Danny DeVito's adaptation of the Roald Dahl book for children is mostly just fine, helped along quite a bit by the charming performance of Mara Wilson (Mrs. Doubtfire) as young Matilda, a brilliant girl neglected by her stupid, self-involved parents (DeVito and Rhea Perlman). Ignored at home, Matilda escapes into a world of reading, exercising her mind so much she develops telekinetic powers. Good thing, too: sent off to a school headed by a cruel principal, Matilda needs all the help she can get. DeVito takes a highly stylized approach that is sometimes reminiscent of Barry Sonnenfeld (director of Get Shorty, a DeVito production), and his judgment is not the best in some matters, such as letting the comic-scary sequences involving the principal go on too long. But much of the film is delightful and funny. The DVD release has a pan-and-scan, full-screen presentation only, plus Dolby sound and optional French and Spanish soundtracks. --Tom Keogh
© 2004, ReviewFocus or its affiliates