Roald Dahl's Matilda the Musical (or Matilda as I'll be calling it for the rest of this review) is Matthew Warchus's movie adaptation of Tim Minchin's live stage show which is a musical adaptation of Danny DeVito's 1996 movie which is the film adaptation of Roald Dahl's children's novel. Simply put, it is a movie of a musical of a movie of a book. Most people have some understanding of the Matilda story. It is the one about a really smart girl who can move objects with her mind who gets abused by her parents and then gets sent to a school with a headmistress who definitely does not have a Working with Children Check because she also abuses children. Matilda then starts a revolution to overthrow the dictating leadership in true French Revolution style. It doesn't sound like the kind of movie that kids should be watching.

Yep, Matilda is a weird story. Not the nicest or most uplifting. But I have found that the majority of Roald Dahl's stories are weird and often seem like the kind of thing kids should not be reading. Just read my review on the dreadful movie adaptation of The Witches. However, the creators of this Matilda adaptation embraced the insane mind of Roald Dahl. By embracing this chaos, the movie felt like it had come straight from the pages of Roal Dahl's book. Part of what made this movie feel like a book on screen was its use of colour. To say that the movie is colourful would be an understatement. Another way that this was achieved was the cast's use of overacting. In any other movie, the actors' exaggerated movements and lines would seem out of place. However, this only helped to make the movie feel like a children's story acted out.

I applaud the creators for being able to make this movie feel so much like Roald Dahl. Going into this movie, however, I was more interested in how the movie acted as a movie musical. We have already seen a Matilda movie that had similar success with bringing Dahl's vision to screen. But making a movie adaptation of a live show is a much riskier move. There have been some great movie musicals made such as Chicago and In the Heights and if Matilda gets lucky it'll join that list. However, it is just as easy for Matilda to join the ranks of awful movies like Cats and A Chorus Line. I saw the Matilda musical when it was in Melbourne over five years ago. I was not (and still am not) a big fan of the show and wouldn't place in my list of favourite shows, however, I do quite like the music. I admire Tim Minchin's talent and think that he succeeded in his creation of the live show of Matilda.

My biggest problem with a lot of movie musicals is that the songs are turned into pop songs. Movie musicals often utilise a lot of auto-tune as is seen in pop songs. A live performer cannot auto-tune their voice so the movie is an inaccurate replication of a live show. A similar reason is the use of programmed and electronic instruments, particularly drums. I do not have a problem with electronic sounds being used in a musical. (Hamilton, one of my all-time favourite shows, uses a lot of electronic sounds to emulate the hip-hop and R&B genres.) But the drums in movie musicals always sound so fake, computer-like and unreplicable in a live setting. Even some of my favourite movie musicals, such as In the Heights and High School Musical, still turn to these 'cheat' methods. If you want a clear example of these methods being used, listen to the album of Netflix's movie adaptation of 13: The Musical.

This was the thing I was most worried about with Matilda; whether the show would be turned into a pop-concert-style movie. Before going to see the movie, I listened to the song 'Revolting Children' on the Netflix album listening to whether auto-tune and programmed instruments were used. 'Revolting Children' is my favourite song from the show and one of my favourite musical theatre tunes. And after listening to the song, out loud I said "Wow, Tim Minchin's done it." He has somehow ignored the pressures from other movie musicals to use cheat methods and has created a soundtrack that may be messy but accurately captures the sound of a live show. I was so happy when I realised this and thought that there might be a chance for future movie musicals to follow Minchin's example.

This made me think that the Matilda movie might actually exceed my relatively low standards by showing me a musical on screen. And that is exactly what the movie did. The soundtrack was not the only part of this movie that remained loyal to the musical theatre feeling. I've talked about how the movie feels like a Roald Dahl book on screen. Well, it also feels like a live musical on screen. Matilda has taken a book and a musical, mushed them together and come out as a movie that has the elements of the book, musical and also a well-done movie. This movie reminds me a lot of the 2002 Chicago movie which I released a review on a few weeks ago. I talked about how the movie was made by people who know about musicals which resulted in a movie that felt like it had come straight from the stage. Matilda gives me the same feeling.

I must also mention that the choreography and dancing of Matilda were outstanding. This kind of dancing deserves to be on Broadway (which I guess is what they were going for). The song I mentioned earlier, 'Revolting Children', is one of the final songs of the show. And that song was spectacular! It really left the audience on a high.

My first review of this year was of Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. That movie was a 'Netflix Original' meaning it was released to cinemas for a short time before playing exclusively on the Netflix streaming platform. I hate this approach to releasing films but unfortunately, it seems to be the way the world is headed. Matilda was released in a similar fashion but as was the case for Glass Onion, the movie could have afforded to be released more widely. It is no worse than anything else released at the time (well, I guess it can't compete with Avatar: The Way of Water) and has all the elements of a great movie musical.

I think that Matilda should set the standard of what should be seen in movie adaptations of live shows. The musicals should transition smoothly from stage to screen and not unfairly cheat. I will be very interested to see what happens with upcoming adaptations of popular musicals like Wicked.

Director: Matthew Warchus

Starring: Alisha Weir, Emma Thompson, Lashana Lynch

Year released: 2022

My rating: 7.5/10

Review by Tristan Carr

Last edited: 30/04/2023