Matilda [Special Edition]

Director: Danny DeVito Danny DeVito

Overview

"Based on the book Mathilda, by British children's author Roald Dahl, this film moves the setting from the U.K. to the U.S.; otherwise it follows the original closely. Mathilda Wormwood (Mara Wilson) is an extremely curious and intelligent young girl who is very different from her low-brow, mainstream parents (Danny DeVito and real-life wife Rhea Perlman), who quite cruelly ignore her. As she grows older, she begins to discover that she has telekinetic powers. Not until a teacher shows her kindness for the first time does she realize that she can use those powers to do something about her sufferings and help her friends as well. Villains from the awful Miss Trunchbull (Pam Ferris), headmistress of her miserable school Crunchem Hall, to her parents and older brother begin to feel her ire. Look for Paul Reubens (aka Pee Wee Herman) in a small part as an FBI agent investigating Mathilda's shady father."

Product Details

Release Date:	06/07/2005
UPC:	0043396013537
Original Release:	1996
Rating:	PG
Source:	Sony Pictures
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[Full Frame]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround, Dolby Digital Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	1:38:00
Sales rank:	909

Special Features

Closed Caption;Mara's Movie About Making Matilda; Matilda's Movie Magic; A Children's Guide to Good Manners; Escape to the Library!; Matilda read-along; Classroom games - the Spelling Bee and the Math Game; A Truly Terrible Test!; Make Magic With Matilda!; Terrify the Trunchbull!; The Matilda character gallery; Get Rid of Mrs. Trunchbull! - trivia game; Bonus trailers; Animated menus

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Mara Wilson	Matilda
Danny DeVito	Mr. Wormwood/Narrator
Rhea Perlman	Mrs. Wormwood
Embeth Davidtz	Miss Honey
Pam Ferris	Trunchbull
Paul Reubens	FBI Agent
Tracey Walter	FBI Agent
Brian Levinson	Michael
Jean Speegle Howard	Miss Phelps
Sara Magdalin	Matilda, 4 Years
R.D. Robb	Roy
Gregory R. Goliath	Luther(as Goliath Gregory)
Fred Parnes	Waiter
Kiami Davael	Lavender
Leor Livneh Hackel	Julius Rottwinkle
Jacqueline Steiger	Amanda Thripp
Jimmy Karz	Bruce Bogtrotter
Michael Valentine	Nigel Hicks
Liam Kearns	Charles
Mark Watson	Magnus
Kira Spencer Hesser	Hortensia(as Kira Spencer Hesser)
J.C. Alexander	Nearby Boy
Malone Brinton	Older Boy
Jon Lovitz	Million $ Sticky Host
Fred Scialla	Stand-In
Pee-Wee Herman	Actor
David Newman	Composer

Technical Credits

Danny DeVito	Director,Producer
Martin Bregman	Executive Producer
Michael Peyser	Executive Producer
Liccy Dahl	Producer
Michael Shamberg	Producer
Stacey Sher	Producer
Michael Siegel	Producer
David Kelson	Sound Mixer

Editorial Reviews

The mordant vision of author Roald Dahl's world probably appealed to the director of War of the Roses and Hoffa, for it permeates this witty, eccentric, dark-toned children's film for adults. Matilda (Mara Wilson), an unusually bright six-year-old whose reading fare runs to Moby Dick and For Whom the Bell Tolls, is saddled with a pair of comically selfish and obtuse parents (Danny De Vito and Rhea Perlman) whom she has to persuade to allow her to go to school. But her teacher, the child-hating Miss Trunchbull Pam Ferris, proves no more enlightened than her parents. This hilariously exaggerated, Lewis Carroll-like version of the world is probably not too far from what many children may feel on a bad day. De Vito and Perlman camp it up outrageously and Ferris gives a terrific performance as a cartoonish villain. Cinematographer Stefan Czapsky shoots from a number of strange angles, making this perhaps the first expressionist film for children.