Matilda: Book vs. Movie
Danny DeVito’s Matilda (1996) adapts Roald Dahl’s 1988 novel, with Mara Wilson in the title role. A gifted girl finds an ally in her teacher and an unexpected way to stand up to cruel adults.
From Books Adapted
What changed from the book
The Wormwoods move to America, and the police get a bigger role
Danny DeVito’s movie takes Dahl’s story through its ending in one film, moving the family from England to American suburbia.
The investigation into Harry’s car business also grows. The book makes only brief references to the police. The movie follows two FBI agents investigating stolen car parts, and Matilda becomes involved when she catches them searching the garage.
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Matilda’s powers arrive earlier and stay with her
In the book, Matilda first discovers her powers when she tips over Trunchbull’s glass. The movie introduces them at home, when her father forces her to watch television and she makes the set explode.
The movie also gives her more to do with them. She moves objects for fun and uses them to frighten Trunchbull inside her house. Dahl’s book reserves the magic for a smaller number of scenes around the confrontation at school.
The endings differ too. The book’s Matilda loses her powers after moving into a class that challenges her. The movie lets her keep them after she finds a home with Miss Honey.
About the book and the movie
- Author
- Roald Dahl
- Year
- 1986
- Pages
- 256Buy book
- Audiobook length
- 4 hr 18 minGet audiobook
- Narrator
- Kate Winslet
Matilda teaches herself to read in a home where books are treated as a nuisance and dishonesty is a family trade. School brings her a teacher who recognizes her abilities, but also a headmistress who terrorizes children and refuses to believe anything good about them. When Matilda discovers an unusual power, her friendship with Miss Honey gives her a reason to do more than play tricks on cruel adults.
- Director
- Danny DeVito
- Writer
- Robin Swicord, Nicholas Kazan
- Year
- 1996
- Runtime
- 1 hr 38 minWatch on Amazon
- Cast
- Mara Wilson, Danny DeVito, Rhea Perlman, Embeth Davidtz
- Genre
- children's, Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
- IMDb
- View on IMDb
For Matilda Wormwood, the public library offers an escape from parents who ridicule her intelligence and barely notice what she does. Starting school gives her an ally in Miss Honey, but the violent principal Trunchbull makes classrooms as unsafe as home. Matilda’s discovery that she can move objects with her mind opens up a way to protect her friends and help the teacher who believes in her.
Other adaptations of this book
MatildaMovie · 2022Details
- Director
- Matthew Warchus
- Writer
- Dennis Kelly
- Year
- 2022
- Runtime
- 1 hr 57 min
- Cast
- Alisha Weir, Lashana Lynch, Stephen Graham, Andrea Riseborough
Matilda arrives at Crunchem Hall eager to learn, only to find a school built around Miss Trunchbull’s contempt for children. While inventing a story about an acrobat and an escapologist for a sympathetic librarian, she forms a bond with her teacher, Miss Honey. Songs, stories, and an emerging power give Matilda ways to challenge the adults who insist that children have no say in their own lives.
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