Rating: 
Summary: a wretched tale
Review: Matilda is an unwanted, mostly neglected child. Her father is a disreputible used car salesman and her mother is a self-absorbed Bingo player. Her parents obviously have taught her how to read, and they feed her - but they are otherwise pretty indifferent to her and refuse to acknowledge her intellegence.Children who grow up without any affirmation, love or physical contact do not grow up to be well-mannered, well-rounded functional people - yet Matilda apparently rises above those statistics by having an idiot-savant like ability with math and an insatiable hunger for reading. Her parents refuse to let her go to school because she must stay at home to sign for packages of stolen car parts her father gets for his business. Defiant, she slips away to the library to escape into the world of literature. Her father finally sends her to school when one of his customers, Principal Trunchbull, brags about her school in which children are treated like the garbage that they are. That's a nice message to send to children, isn't it? Trunchbull (Pam Ferris) is a chunky, javelin throwing, sadistic nut. She has a faint mustache and is the obvious major antagonist of the story. The principal has a tiny closet with protruding nails she calls "The Chokie" which she gleefully places children as she sees fit. For this element alone, nobody should expose their children to a film like this. Beyond this horrific torture chamber, there is a strong suggestion that Trunchbull, who is the aunt of Matilda's beloved teacher, Miss Honey, likely murdered her own brother (Miss Honey's father) so she could have his money and his home. She is so evil, she even keeps photos of Honey's father and her childhood toys and dolls in a locker in the house and won't let her have them. She is not a sympathetic character in any way - she truly displays pleasure in throwing darts at photos of children, throwing children out of the school windows and picking up a child by her braided pigtails and swinging her around like a shotput. She doesn't even like animals. She is truly loathesome and feels threatened by Matilda's obvious super-intelligence. For an unexplained reason, Matilda has a telekinetic ability and learns to concentrate her "powers" to retrieve Miss Honey's beloved objects and to terrorize the Trunchbull. This film scares children - it tells children that they can be abused by teachers or other authority figures and shouldn't bother to tell their parents or the police, because no one will believe them. Their only hope is to hope that they can develop some sort of pscyho-kinetic power or cast a spell to make their conditions less wretched. Is this the message we want to send to children? I did not read the book, so I cannot compare the book to the film - but I can tell you that the film is wretched and not entertaining in the slightest. Even though Matilda and the children finally triumph over the Trunchbull, the damage to a child's psyche has already been done. The underlying message is - if someone perpetrates evil upon you, don't tell your parents or the police, but instead use resources at your disposal to seek revenge. Mara Wilson does a good job at the unusually confident, extroverted Matilda, but all the good acting in the world would not make this a film worth watching - especially for children.
Rating: 
Summary: Needs a Widescreen DVD!
Review: I watched Matilda with my nephew not thinking I was going to like it but I wound up liking the movie and thinking it was cute and I thought it was a good story of how a girl treated badly at home by her parents and her brother and at school by the cruel Agatha Trunchball discovers she has special magical powers and makes her life better and teaches that bully Miss Trunchball a lesson she will never forget and Matilda winds up finding that even though her self absorbed family doesn't care about her their are others who do especially her sweet and kind teacher Miss Honey. Mara Wilson was good as Matilda and this is a movie I could see us having on DVD but unfortunately it's only available in an edited pan and scan format and not widescreen and I really wish that a widescreen DVD would be released!
Rating: 
Summary: Awesome !
Review: Matilda is a really fun movie. I'm 23, and still like to watch it. Too bad that it's only full screen. If you have the capabilities, get the region 2 dvd from Europe. It's widescreen (why they didn't do it for the US version, I don't know) so you'll be able to see the whole picture.
Rating: 
Summary: Matilda is a delightful film.
Review: A little girl who is in a horrible situation at home and yet makes the best of her life anyway, Matilda is a hilarious, sometimes scary film. The "Trunch" is masterfully played. At no point do I doubt any of the characters. I laugh, I cry, I'm scared, and joyous again as the indefatigable Matilda fights her way into the life she deserves.
Rating:
Summary: Mrs D Mrs I Mrs FFI Mrs C Mrs U Mrs LTY
Review: Why are all those women married? And why is this film out of print? My homeroom teacher read the book Matilda to us when I was in the fifth grade. I loved it and we went and saw the movie. This movie, (based on a great children's novel by the late Roald Dahl) is about a little girl named Matilda Wormwood, who is mistreated by her parents, her brother, and a wicked school principal Miss Trunchbull. Her father is a used car dealer, and sells used cars that have all been stolen and all have bad transmissions. One day he sells a car to the Trunchbull and when it breaks down, she sues him for it. In the end Matilda outsmarts the Trunchbull by using her magical eye powers and writes a somewhat disrespectful message on Miss Honey's blackboard in reference to the Trunchbull. Trunchbull faints, and after she recovers she quits her job, because they otherwise would have fired her, and is never heard from since. I really wanted to buy this DVD for my cousin as a christmas present. It's a classic. You have my order.
Rating:
Summary: Grand Daughter's Oscar Winner
Review: We have several videos on hand for our Grand Daughters when they come visit us at the Beach and it's raining. My 5 year-old, Christina, never gets tired of seeing Matilda. She know every character and most of the lines.
Rating:
Summary: 5-star Family Fun!!
Review: This is a great movie for the whole family. It is very true to the book, with only slight changes.
Matilda, the ignored super-genius, was well portrayed by Mara Wilson. She looks just like how I pictured little Matilda to look. Even her voice was good for the part.
Danny DeVito played her father. He illegally sells cars and is proud of it. He hates Matilda.
Rhea Perlman played her mother. While her body figure is slightly different from the mom's in the movie's, she is wonderful for the part.
Well, I won't ruin your surprise for much else. I just want to end saying that you could not tell it was just acting-and that is the sign of a true good film.
Rating:
Summary: matilda
Review: i ordered matilda for my daughter for christmas and it was in spanish it didnt say spanish when ordered.....she was so disappointed...u broke a five year olds heart....i cant fix it for her because noone sells it, and u only have it in spanish....
thank u so very much
Rating:
Summary: Funny!
Review: My kids and I love this little film! (My 'kids' are 19 and 28) We watch it every time it comes on and I intend to buy it. I love DeVito and M.S. Trenchbowl (sp?) Cute and very funny, I always laugh.
Rating:
Summary: Danny Devito's best work yet.
Review: Matilda is one of those movies that makes you laugh, cry and cheer, The story of a heroic and genius little girl with special powers trying to break away from her irresponsible parents and get rid of an insane school principal quickly made this #1 on my movie list, I've seen it a dozen times before but I had to add it to my collection, And it was so easy ordering it from amazon, and the shipping was very fast. I'll definately come back here to buy more, In fact I already have.
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