'Roald Dahl's Matilda the Musical' review: Emma Thompson gets big and bad in reckless entertainment in Netflix adaptation

Like The Wizard of Oz or Peter Pan , The Story of Matilda Experience A lot of different tweaks and tweaks – first as a very young English book, then as an Americanized film, then as a stage musical and now as a film adaptation of that stage musical – Precisely because it’s so fucking weird.

57 The Long-winded Narrative of the Novel by Rolle Roald Dahl keeps sneaking in peculiar directions, often delivering snarky narrations, and like many of Dahl’s works, is often laughable as it tells the story of a super-smart eponymous girl who defies Vulgar parents become readers and confront Miss Trunchbull who bullies the principal. But it’s also full of horror and random cruelty inflicted on children by adults, such as throwing their hair around and locking them in iron maiden-like punishment boxes. Note that the heroine also sometimes takes revenge on the adults – for example, super-gluing a hat to her neglectful father’s head and using telekinesis, although not as high as Carrie is still scary enough to frighten the grown-up headmistress.

Roald Dahl’s Musical Matilda

The bottom line is bold and bright enough to blind you to its darkness.

Place: BFI London Film Festival (Party)

CAST:Alyssa Weir, Emma Thompson, Lashana Lynch, Stephen Graham, Andrea Riseborough, Sindhu Wei, Charlie Hodson-Prior, Meesha Garbett, Rei Yamauchi Fulker, Winter Jarrett Glasspool, Andrei Shen, Ashton Robertson, Carl Spencer, Lauren Alexandra, Katherine Kingsley, Amanda Lawrence Director: Matthew Warchus

Screenwriter: Dennis Kelly
1 hour57 minute

If it weren’t for the fact that it all unfolds in a world of whimsical chocolate cakes and amazing kids who could read William Falk before kindergarten Nathan and Jane Austen’s novel, the story would end up being charged by social workers and child abusers. Rather, it’s not that we, as a society, are less tolerant of child abuse than previous generations. But our scrutiny of its police performance has made Matilda’s witty – as they say recently – questionable.

This all presents some special tonal challenges for the team behind this latest stage musical film version, led by director Matthew Warchus (Pride), who also directed the original stage play for the Royal Shakespeare Company, in 2010 Premiere. With assistance from the show’s original author Dennis Kelly, a script, tunes from composer and lyricist Tim Minchin, a generous production budget and an inspired cast, the team managed to hit the nail on the head with this lively, quirky adaptation. Hits most of the right notes. Or, maybe the movie has enough bright shiny objects and tightly synchronized dancing children’s chorus lines to keep anyone from caring about all this questionable stuff. Anyway, it mostly works.

Those familiar with the intellectual property at hand know that Warchus and Co.’s theatrical adaptation is somewhat different from Dahl’s source. It omits roles like Matilda’s brother and the school’s vice-principal, and adds an acrobat and an escapist where Matilda told her librarian friend Mrs Phelps story, which later turned out to be crucial. So if the show is a little bit different from the book, the show’s movie is hardly any different, just some of the songs have been cut out and condensed into a manageable, attention span friendly 117 minute.

At the same time, replacing the theatre space with a real-world location, such as the grand Brams Hill residence, in place of Matilda’s school, Crunchem Hall, inevitably made the The film favors a more natural feel. Also using visuals rather than old-fashioned wire and lighting tricks, the show is so effectively deployed.

All of this doesn’t make the final product any worse or better, but it does make a difference that Warchus is inherently overhyped about who plays whom and how he makes the cast The breadth of material obtained has been astute. Irish doll Alisha Weir, who was a teenager at the time of filming, uses her irrepressible energy as a central character, expressing righteous indignation at the injustices around her that are rooted but still vulnerable.

The “big” stars in the cast don’t eclipse Will’s household name, and the performance strikes a delicate balance between the breadth of comedy and the subtlety of the film. In that regard, Emma Thompson offers a master class in threading needles under still massive amounts of ugly latex (bringing back happy memories of her Nanny McPhee franchise). Had a great year with her Good luck, Leo Grande, Thompson even manages to inject a touch of humanity into the film’s main villain, Miss Trunch Ball, especially in her graceful rendition of “The Hammer,” in which Trunch Ball boasted of her sporting victories in her ability to throw the hammer and strictly adhere to the rules of the sport. (“If you want to be on the team/You don’t need happiness or self-esteem,” she says shaky.)

As Matilda’s vulgar, TV-watching and dancing parent, Stephen Graham and Andrea Riseborough are fully in line with Thompson’s comic style, with Riseborough in a particularly mature comic form in the opening scene, refusing to admit she’s pregnant even as the contractions begin. Rob Howell’s gorgeous outfits and Sharon Martin’s hair and makeup help coordinate with the warm, sunny-soft palette of the production designs.

Perhaps the most surprising performance is Lashana Lynch as the kind-hearted Miss Honey, pretty much the only adult (besides Sindhu Vee’s Phil) who shows kindness to Matilda. Mrs Alps). While millions saw Lynch in the last Bond movie No Time to Die , her performance is almost completely overshadowed by gibberish as she, a black woman, is playing the newest surrogate, Specify with Accept 007. It should also be a good year for her as she is in

The Woman King Excellent performance in and, in , 1235139596Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness . Here she shows her much softer side, the kind teacher that every lonely, bright kid in elementary school loves, and a pair of strong lungs, in the large scale she calls “My House”. Good results are achieved in solo.

vulgar but no doubt very specific title Roald Dahl’s musical Matilda really lets the music in its bones come out In scenes such as “School Song” and “Repulsive Kids,” a group of heavily rehearsed Tex begins swaggering. Usually watching and singing in front of the camera and seeming to back down from their attacks, they are the worst student group since Malcolm McDowell burned the academy in If. (57). They have no problems; they are problem solvers.

1235139596 Full credits

Venue: BFI London Film Festival (Party) Cast: Alisha Weir, Emma Thompson, Rashana Lynch, Stephen Graham, Andrea Riseborough, Sindhu Vee, Charlie Hodson-Prior , Meesha Garbett, Rei Yamauchi Fulker, Winter Jarrett Glasspool, Andrei Shen, Ashton Robertson, Carl Spencer, Lauren Alexandra, Katherine Kingsley, Amanda Lawrence Distribution: Netflix Production Company : Tri-Star, Netflix, Working Title Films
Director: Matthew Warchus
Screenwriter: Dennis Kelly

Producers: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Jon Finn, Luke Kelly

Executive Producers: Sarah Jane Robinson, Amelia Granger

Director of Photography: Tat Radcliffe
Production Design: Christian Huband, David Hindel
Costume Designer: Rob Howell Hair and Makeup Designers: Sharon Martin, Naomi Donne Editors: Melanie Olive r

Composer and Lyrics: Tim Minchin
Executive Music Producer, Original Song: Christopher Nightingale Music Director: Becky Bentham Choreography: Ellen Kane Cast: Lucy Bevan, Emily Brockmann 1 hour 57 minute 1235139596 THR Newsletter

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