‘Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical’ Review: Kids Win the Day in This Perky Adaptation, But Emma Thompson’s Trunchbull is the Real Triumph
variety.comGuy Lodge Film Critic What children love about Roald Dahl’s books is the very thing other writers tend to dodge when adapting them: that icy, unapologetic streak of misanthropy, so exhilarating to kids who have been instructed to see the good in everyone, opening their eyes to the nastier, more ironic adult world that awaits them.
Even the craftiest, classiest Dahl adaptations tend to mollify that cruelty somewhat: Nicolas Roeg’s “The Witches” is viciously frightening but tacks on an unmitigatedly happy ending, while Wes Anderson’s “Fantastic Mr.
Fox” muffles the violent survivalism of its source tale with its director’s more gently quirky world-building. Already based on one of his kindlier stories, “Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical” further softens matters by pruning the presence of its funniest adult grotesques to accommodate more child’s-eye exuberance.
The long-late author probably would have grumbled; young viewers will be delighted nonetheless. And yet, even as its script dictates otherwise, grownups still get the upper hand in director Matthew Warchus’ bouncy screen transfer of his hit stage musical.
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