Roald Trip

More than a decade ago (!), I had what remains to this day my most potent experience seeing live theater, when I saw the original production of the musical Matilda in London. Years later, I had a disappointing experience seeing the touring company of the Broadway version of that same show. Muddy sound, a less effective cast, and a too-big stage (compared to the original) prevented lightning from striking twice -- showing that while great on paper, a production of Matilda was not guaranteed to be good. So it was with nervous hopefulness that I approached the new film version of the material, the abundantly titled Roald Dahl's Matilda the Musical.

It would be easy for someone like me, who saw the stage version, to focus on what's changed in this new adaptation. It's been slimmed down to under two hours. Characters have been omitted. A few songs have been truncated, and a handful of others have been cut altogether (though also, a new finale has been added). But at the core, I'd say all that's meaningfully changed here is the amazement that it could be performed flawlessly straight through, night after night.

And that "I can't believe they're doing this" quality of the live version isn't lost so much as traded. The wonder is still here. The movie does an excellent job of opening things up with lavish visuals, taking full advantage of the new medium. Songs are given added context, a running subplot of a story told by Matilda is brought fully to life, the orchestra and dance routines are both vastly expanded, and more.

Through all this, the amazing songs by Tim Minchin remain as effective as ever. The droll commentary of "Miracle," the inspiring anthem of "Naughty," the stunning cleverness of the "School Song," the bittersweetness of "When I Grow Up," the tear-jerking simplicity of "My House," and more -- they're all still here. But now a wider audience has easier access to appreciate all those things.

The cast is exceptional. As with the stage version, it relies mostly on finding a large number of effective young talent to play the school children -- even more so here, as there are no adults playing the "older children." Alisha Weir, who plays Matilda, is an amazing discovery, anchoring this movie as perhaps no child actor has anchored a movie since The Sixth Sense. Emma Thompson almost literally vanishes into her role, enduring a transformative makeup job to play the wicked Miss Trunchbull. And Lashana Lynch is excellent as Miss Honey, key to the entire emotional turn of the movie. (I'd been questioning why all the character's Act I songs had been cut from the film, but that seemed to make it only more effective when Lynch finally does sing. And boy, can she.)

That London stage experience will always reverberate in my mind -- and even as good as this movie is, it cannot top that. It's probably just that comparison (unfairly) making me think of this as an A-, rather than a simple, straight A. But either way, this stands right now as the best 2022 movie I've seen (on a list I have yet to post).

Watching it is as simple as firing up Netflix. I can't recommend that highly enough.