Matilda (PG)
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This came out in 1996, but I didn't see it until 2025. It's based on a 1988 Roald Dahl book that I haven't read. The movie did well with critics, not so well at the box office, but subsequently has become pretty popular. I can't say I loved it, but it was pretty good. The movie is narrated by Danny DeVito, who also directed and acted in the film.

It begins immediately after the birth of Matilda Wormwood, who is neglected and mistreated by her parents, Harry (DeVito) and Zinnia (Rhea Perlman). Matilda is nothing like the rest of her family (which also includes an older brother named Michael). She's very smart, and loves to learn, and to read. When she's six and a half years old (now played by Mara Wilson), she goes to the library for the first time, and soon starts bringing home books. She has to tell her parents that she wants to go to school, which she hasn't started yet because they think she's still just four years old. But eventually, Harry sells a lemon of a car to a school principal named Agatha Trunchbull, and thereafter sends Matilda to Miss Trunchbull's school. She makes a friend named Lavender, and really likes her teacher, Jennifer Honey (Embeth Davidtz), who quickly realizes how gifted Matilda is. She suggests transferring Matilda to a higher grade, but Trunchbull just thinks she's trying to get rid of her, and refuses. Trunchbull is truly sadistic, and hates all children. Eventually, Matilda realizes she has telekinetic powers, and works to master them. She uses this power to trick Trunchbull into leaving town, pretending to be the ghost of Miss Honey's father, whom Trunchbull had (possibly) murdered years ago, making it look like a suicide.

I don't want to reveal too much more of the plot, except to say that there were always two FBI agents watching Harry, who did illegal things in his business as a used car dealer. Matilda tried to warn him, but he didn't believe her. I probably wouldn't even bother mentioning this, except that one of the agents was played by Paul Reubens. Anyway, there's a very happy ending for Matilda, the nature of which I don't want to spoil. But I really liked how the movie ended, particularly because of the stark contrast to what Matilda's situation had been like for most of her life, up to that point. I also liked the use of a couple of songs in the movie, "Send Me on My Way" by Rusted Root, and "Little Bitty Pretty One" by Thurston Harris. I also want to say that the movie is kind of subversive in a good way. And, yeah, I don't know what else to tell you.