Matilda the musical

“Matilda the musical” is a new film based on the west end show “Matilda” based on Roald Dahls novel of the same name, if you are not familiar with Matilda already, it is a story about a girl who lives with her parents who are not very appreciative of her unique genius, she is sent to a school called Crunchem Hall where she meets cruel principal Mrs.Trunchbull.

As Matilda continues to show her incredible knowledge she grows a strong bond with her amiable teacher Ms.Honey. Matilda then utilises her newly developed telekinetic abilities to take down Mrs.Trunchbull and her unhinged activities such as swinging children around by their hair, putting them in a wooden chamber called “Chokey” and many other atrocities.

Many people would be disappointed to find that “Matilda the musical” is very different from its counterpart film titled “Matilda” by Danny DeVito but, these two films are very contrasting, with “Matilda the musical” obviously being a musical with an incredible score by Tim minchin, and “Matilda” not, if you go into watching “Matilda the musical” with the mindset that “this is going to be horrible and nothing will compare to the original”, you most likely won’t enjoy it, you really have to appreciate the fact it is a musical with breath taking dance scores,acting performances and songs derived from the stage adaption. I myself have seen the musical on the west end and can confidently say that this film does an incredible job of taking the true theatrical feel to the big screen which in the past has been proven hard to do with films such as “Cats” or “Dear Evan Hansen”. This is achieved with the screen play being done by the same man Dennis Kelly along with choreographer Ellen Kane, this film never loses its authenticity to its origin of Roald Dahl with bursting colours that are very appealing to the eye, along with costume design which really brings the presence of Dahl onto the big screen. It stars Alissa Weir from Dublin who with out doubt does an outstanding job of portraying Matilda, Emma Thompson had an amazing transformation to play Mrs.Trunchbull with the use of prosthetics she does a wonderful job bringing Trunchbull to life. I would definitely give this film 9/10 for the pacing could be better due to sometimes seeming as if the songs drag on but, as a fan of the musical I really never found any issues with that aspect. I definitely recommend this film as a family film for people of all ages to enjoy.