Matilda

• Cat.no: CDR 94512
• Cert: PG
• Running time: 94 minutes
• Year: 1996
• Pressing: 1998
• Region(s): 2, PAL
• Chapters: 20 plus extras
• Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1, MPEG Multichannel 5.1
• Languages: English
• Subtitles: 8 languages available
• Widescreen: 2.35:1 (Super 35)
• 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
• Macrovision: Yes
• Disc Format: DVD 5
• Price: £19.99
• Extras : Scene index, DVD promotional trailer

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Director:

Danny DeVito

(Jack the Bear, The War of the Roses)

Producers:

Screenplay:

(based on the book by Roald Dahl)

Music:

Cast:

Harry Wordwood: Danny DeVito (Batman Returns, Get Shorty, The Jewel of the Nile, John Grisham’s The Rainmaker, Junior, L.A. Confidential, Mars Attacks!, Other People’s Money, Renaissance Man, Romancing The Stone, Space Jam, Twins, The War of the Roses)
Zinnia Wormwood: Rhea Perlman (Canadian Bacon, Class Act, Coach, TV: Cheers)
Matilda Wormwood: Mara Wilson (Father of the Bride 1 & 2, Home Alone 1 & 2, The Mighty, Only The Lonely)
Agatha Trunchbull: Pam Ferris (TV: Darling Buds of May, Middlemarch, Our Mutual Friend, The Rector’s Wife, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall)
Miss Jennifer Honey: Embeth Davidtz (Army of Darkness: The Medieval Dead, Fallen, The Gingerbread Man, Murder in the First, Schindler’s List, Till Death Do Us Part)

Matilda is the big-screen adaptation of Roald Dahl‘s classic children’s book about a young girl who, from birth, is ignored by her parents and left to her own devices. Whenever she tries to better herself they rarely take an interest and then it’s only to pour scorn on her, especially when it comes to learning and reading books.

If she thinks she’s having a tough life there, it’s nothing compared to the challenge presented by the school principal, Agatha Turnbull, who thinks nothing of throwing the children around or locking them up for most of the day when she thinks they’ve been naughty. Miss Honey, a woman who seems like the only other teacher in the entire school, takes a shine to Matilda when she realises her need for learning and helps her to fulfill it. Real-life couple Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman play the warring couple who dictate over Matilda’s future for as long as they can. DeVito also directs the film and acts as narrator.

The picture quality is glorious and just what’s required since the film uses a combination of stark, contrasting colours in just about every scene outside the dull, grey school where the sharpness of the picture brings out the full horror of every children’s nightmare. The film is presented in its original widescreen ratio of 2.35:1, unlike the American region 1 release who get a fullscreen DVD, it is enhanced for 16:9 widescreen televisions – thus allowing for 33% higher resolution – and the average bitrate is a good 4.89 Mb/s, occasionally peaking over 7Mb/s.

The sound is also worthy of your attention. Apart from the occasional tune, special effects become a priority around the soundstage. DeVito uses every available opportunity to let what’s onscreen literally shout out at you as much as the images do and this is heightened moreso when Matilda uses her special powers to play the poltergeist.

Matilda had her own agenda
when it came to playing ’52-card pick up’.

Extras :

Chapters : There are 20 chapters covering the 94-min film, which takes care of most main scenes although I’ll never say no to more. There is no trailer though… well, apart from a promotional trailer showing brief clips thrown together of some films which are out, are due soon, or have yet to see the light of day (inc. Close Encounters of the Third Kind).

Languages/Subtitles : Just one dialogue language here: English, but in Dolby Digital 5.1. The now-redundant MPEG Multichannel 5.1 is also there but has, for obvious reasons, been dropped from later releases. Dolby Surround is there too for those without the requisite equipment, but I prefer to let my DVD-ROM drive downconvert the DD5.1 signal to surround for me. Subtitles are available in eight languages: English, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Italian, Hebrew and two languages you don’t often find on DVDs: Russian and Cantonese.

Menu : The menu is static and silent but has a bit of colour to it and, as far as I know, the artwork mirrors the region 1 DVD release. On playing the disc, there’s no logos, no fanfare, just the main menu.

Upon selecting the “Start Movie” option, you’ll first see the Columbia TriStar logo, the copyright info and then the film itself. No DD helicopter demo this time.

It’s one thing to make a film that can be enjoyed by children, with a few laughs being added for the adults’ benefit, but few can contain enough intelligence to provide a good script with engaging performances that will keep both parties entertained for ninety minutes. Add to this DeVito’s clever visual style and the stark locations and you have a film that can legitimately claim to be fun for the whole family.

If I had one complaint with this it would be that there’s zip in the way of extras, but looking on the bright side, we get an anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen transfer, while the Americans get a fullscreen one.