Matilda the Musical
Grownups still get the upper hand in director Matthew Warchus’ bouncy screen adaptation of his hit stage musical. Alisha Weir’s agreeably precocious title character and a large,
eager ensemble of self-proclaimed “revolting children” fill the screen in one busy number after another, as they vocally stand up for kids’ right to be kids in the face of authoritarian adult opposition —
only for Emma Thompson’s towering, truck-jawed antagonist to rather greedily pull focus from them with each rancorous line reading. The film, on balance, is cheery, sherbet-colored stuff, bursting with goodwill for all good people. What you remember from it, however, is each scene in which elder malevolence deliciously spoils the party.
