i feel like the weak point of the musical is the relationship between Matilda and Miss Honey, which is one of the most important parts os the original movie. Here, when Miss Honey adopts Matilda i was like "why? they barely know each other", but in the original movie it makes a lot of sense because the script makes a priority to sell to the audience that they had a real connection from the beggining.
this. they barely showed ms honey being a mother figure to matilda and matilda was too busy being unlikeable and rebellious to be portrayed to need good parents
The thing about Matilda punishing her dad in the movie, and the book, I think, is that he said "When a person is bad, that person deserves to be punished." So, Matilda concluded that since her parents are people, and they were bad, then by her dad's own logic, he deserved to be punished.
I have read it a bunch of times and I can confirm the line is there also I think that in old books there is a bad person and he/she gets punished at the end so she probably got the idea from the books
I feel taking away her brother in the new film makes her seem just angry at her parents but in the first film you could see how she felt like she didn't belong with her family as a whole
@ツLavenderPi Yes, but as someone that has read the book and seen the first movie, it comes off as odd when people say "The musical that is based off of the book" as defense. Especially at points where it differs from the book. Just say "oh it is based on the musical" without the book part. People constantly adding the book part is just... weird. It is okay that a musical is different. Just if people did not read the book, but have seen the musical just don't use the "book". It is already funny we can watch it on tv while the books roast watching tv
Yeah, I haven't seen the new adaptation but seeing how they treated each child was a big part of understanding the family dynamic. The favoritism shows that they don't like Matilda because she's different from them (and arguably because she's a girl), but without the brother they're just abusive for the sake of being abusive.
For the cake scene, in the live musical they can’t have an actor eat a gigantic cake on stage so they have to have a distracting fast pace song so they can have the cake and by the end of the song the cake is gone. They probably just wanted to keep that aspect in it.
oh my gosh I just was that kid who ate the cake in the musical I did for my school and what happened was I did eat like half the cake but everyone was dancing around me so then I slid the cake into the desk and then showed the empty platter. It was fun, but very stressful!!
Yea but that doesn't work in movie format. As Alex said, too many songs are blasted at you too quickly, it really takes away from moments meant to be impactful and the story as a whole.
I love how in the original, pivotal scenes like being thrown by your pigtails, or being yelled at by your dad, the camera mirrors Matilda’s eye level, really resonating with the young audience and making sure you FEEL that scene on a different level. It does more than just show parents this is how your kid feels, it FORCES you to feel it.
Agreed, I always thought the original went hard and I've watched it so many times whenever it's come on TV. So when this new one came out, I was like "why would you try to improve on perfection-?"
1996 Matilda is an angel child that gets into a bit of mischief but only wants what's best for her favourite teacher. 2022 Matilda will gladly commit arson if you piss her off.
2022 matilda screams at miss trunchbull. If the 1996 matilda did that, she would’ve been murdered by miss trunchbull. 2022 matilda never even gets sent to the chokey.
@@dakingbey'm afraid it's a losing battle at this point. People are gonna keep comparing it to the 1996 film. I do love that movie but boy I wish stage musicals weren't always shafted. Well the good news is this comment section is one of the worst while either channels actually talk about the musical without comparing so people actually learn about it.
One of my favorite scenes in the original film is when her mom is about to sign the adoption papers she sympathetically admits she wish she could've bonded with her daughter. Like, even the horrible parents have dimension to them. Her saying those lines legitimately pull at my heart.
Danny also narrates 'so Matilda's parents did the one decent thing they had ever done for their daughter' or something at that part too, that line gets me
Guess what? In the book she doesn't even tell Matilda all that in the adoption scene, the only one who actually even ways goodbye is Matilda's brother 🤭🤭
Fun fact:there's a scene in both movies. They're missing a scene from the book, which is the parrot prank where matilda borrows her friends talking pet parrot where she pretends there's a ghost in the house to scare her parents
Lol XD To be fair I can see why you forgot him. He's never gets any lines if I remember coz it' sjust the dad talking to him/refering to him. Like literally Matilda does not interact with him in the book at all.@@Flxral.rxsesxo
I have no nostalgia for the original movie because I didn't watch when I was young, but I have such a soft spot for it after hearing how Danny Devito and Rhea Perlman were like second parents to Mara Wilson when her mom died.
I was going to say something similar to this about them. mara Wilson said that Danny was very sweet nice to her when they weren't filming. she said that he even got everyone to dance with her when she was filming the scene where she's dancing to the song while using her powers because she was scared of dancing by herself
5:56 No, "When I Grow Up" is not just about "kids wanting to eat candy". It's about children who are having a terrible childhood dreaming of being free and happy. The idea that someday they'll be strong enough to protect themselves and others and smart enough to find a way out of problems they're facing.
that song on the original album makes me cry, especially when ms honey joins in with “when I grow up, I will be strong enough to fight the creatures that you have to fight beneath the bed each night to be a grown up”
“When I grow up, I will be strong enough to carry all the heavy things you have to haul around with you to be a grown up” is another one of the lines that is so poignantly laced with double meaning. When I Grow Up is a very deep and, at times, sad song about the part of ourselves we are forced to give up (through trauma or even just the simple everyday responsibilities of life as an adult) as we grow up. It’s actually quite foundational to the entire Matilda story (and was the first song Minchin wrote for the musical). It is definitely not just about kids eating candy.
It was a joke :) and he knows and comes to it later. But as I know very much what you are talking about, I understand why it was important to you to point it out so clearly. Glad to be grown up and safe.
I think its worth noting that the director (who directed both the stage and movie musical), didn't watch the original movie so its purely based off the book. Anything choice made that is different/the same in the two movies is because they're based off the same book, but the musical is not based off the movie.
Was about to comment the same thing, I went into this movie with the idea that it’s completely separate from the og movie, but that the og movie and the play just have the same source material
Okay but my favorite line from the original movie doesn’t get recognized enough. When Amanda is spelling difficulty and trunchbull’s response is “Why are all of these women married??”
@@han7oee "My sisters and I." Not "me and my sisters." To know whether to use "me" or "I," remove the other party/ies from the sentence. You wouldn't say "me always quote that regularly." Not hating on you, just trying to help you out. I see people make that error all the time.
I think part of the reason for casting a (slightly) older actress as matilda is that we've learned in recent years how harmful the industry is to child actors, especially really young ones. out of the ones you mentioned, so many of them have spoken about how damaging those experiences were to go through at such a young age, and you can see how it affected their lives even years after it was over (like macaulay culkin, lindsay lohan, etc.) Even Mara Wilson herself has talked about how hard it was on her. And in a musical adaptation where you need to be a true triple threat to sing and dance as well as starring... I wouldn't wish that pressure on any 5 year old. So I'm not mad at them casting a slightly older actress if it means she was emotionally better prepared to handle all of that.
I think Alex was referring to how the movie did not make it clear what Matilda's age was supposed to be. In the original, she explicitly states that she is 6 and a half. I don't know if they did that with this one. It's not about the actress herself.
I don't think you understood "when I grow up" the whole point is that miss honey is grown up but still can't fight the demons that she needs to. It's a beautiful metaphor for how some people have dreams and some people just dream about escaping a hellish childhood
Yeah, the first time I heard 'When I grow up', years ago, I didn't consider it to be that relevant to the plot but it soon became one of my favourite songs in the show (if not my fave) as it's so moving with Miss Honey and the kids imagining a day when they'll be free from Miss Trunchbull and can once again be happy and dare to have dreams. It seems simplistic but has a lot of depth and meaning about how childhood isn't always a happy, carefree time and while some kids are forced to grow up too quickly, adults are still growing up and learning too.
This was the first Matilda song I heard from a Tony Awards performance. And at the time, I think the message of the song was delivered well even without context. When the song is sang by children, there's a bittersweet whimsy to it, because we as adults know that being "grown up" isn't as magical and free as they think it's gonna be. In the stage choreography, we actually see the kids playing around a set of swings. They would ride and stand on them, they would also twist and spin its strings as they slide across the floor. But then the music comes to a halt, the swings stay perfectly still... and an adult walks in singing the same words and sits on of the swings. All of a sudden the context of the lyrics change. And all that's left was the sad reality of being grown up. Again, at the time I didn't know what Matilda is. But this one song made it clear what its all about and I immediately wanted more of it.
To add, another point is that nobody ever has things as figured out as they'd like. The world is a scary, overwhelming place and while kids might think being an adult is about having freedom to do the things adults don't allow them as kids to do, it's much more than that. The idea that adults have things under control is a foregone conclusion to these kids, they're not worried about being mature or responsible, they just want to have fun. Meanwhile, we see that Ms. Honey, an outwardly responsible woman with a career, is still deeply insecure and feels immature herself because her circumstances inhibit her growth. It's heartbreaking because the woman these kids look up to is just barely holding it together. It paints a very bleak picture, as if to say "it never gets better". Obviously the events of the movie show otherwise, with the abused getting a happy ending but in this moment during the "When I Grow Up" number, it's so incredibly sad.
To be fair, stage musicals (upon which this is based, not the 90s movie) can have little to no dialogue. It is a series of songs sometimes vaguely connected by a few spoke sentences to get from one song to another. It’s why you can buy the original cast recordings of most Broadway stage musicals and know the whole story just from the songs. Stage Musicals are about the the songs. And in honor of it’s stage musical origins, it would make sense that the performances are a bit larger then life.
The larger than life performance is fine, but the pacing isn't. The pacing in a stage musical is fundamentally different from a movie format for many reasons. It's faster and mostly songs, which just doesn't work in a movie. As Alex said, everything comes at you too quickly for impactful moments to actually feel impactful. Also, a lot of the story is lost. It's like adapting a movie into a film, you have to cut and include things carefully. It just feels hollow here.
@@UnfazedPhoenix as a person who’s watched way too many musicals (both movie and stage ), I fundamentally disagree that movies can’t have the same percentage of songs as stage shows, I feel the main audience that watched this has probably only ever seen Disney musicals (which in the renaissance era often only had 4-5 songs) and not use to the concentration of songs in actual broadway musicals
@@UnfazedPhoenix an example of this would be my favorite movie musical of all time, In the Heights. It spends a very similar amount of time on songs and it never had any pacing issues from me (nor the critics or audience on rotten tomatoes who both gave it a 94% which is wildly high for both scores to agree on, if you take any stock in such scores). My point it, the movie might have suffered from pacing issues, but it was NOT due to the number of songs (corrolation, not causation).
One of the things I love about the original film is how much Matilda still loves her family, even when her dad is a crook and cops come after her dad, Matilda still go out of her way to protect her father and family
I didn’t really see that as love so much as Matilda knowing that although her parents neglect her she has a lot of freedom, so if her dad was caught, her freedom would be compromised.
In the musical stage production it ends with Matilda protecting her family from the Mafia by talking them down in Russian. It's a really funny scene and I loved it a lot. There is a dialogue that kinda goes "your father has been very rude and very very stupid. He has also been rude to you. When I am done with him he will still be stupid but maybe not as rude, would you like that?" And Matilda is just like "That is a very tempting offer, but he is still my father." The Miracle song in the beginning is also a lot more of a theme in the stage production, first in the first song, then a few times by miss honey (most of her songs and ark got cut to kinda change the general meaning of the movie from overcoming trauma to finding family, which is a bit more kid friendly but sad cause that ark was my favourite) and then lastly by the mafia boss when he lets the family go because as rude and stupid the family is, they still managed to put some good in the world and he doesn't wanna kill the family in front of her when she is more in favour of rehabilitation.
@@tiahnarodriguez3809 true but also its little details, like when her mom asks her how was school she immediately wants to share it with her, and the big hug he gives her dad when she gets to go to school the next day
@@bradcha5413t's really good. I wish Alex had talked more about that difference between the stage and the Netflix film instead of comparing it to the 1996 film 😅
Fun Facts? : -I did Matilda Jr Musical this summer and then the adaptation came out -The Adaptation actually didn't include all the songs from the original so there are a fewer songs in the movie than the actual stage production
i remember doing a matilda play in middle school. our theater teacher had this weird tactic of giving us 2 songs at a time and at some point getting new songs stoped being fun and just killed me a little
@@Princessitaandreita I’ve done three productions of Matilda, and my first role was Mrs. Wormwood so I am DEFINITELY a little partial when I say she is the best character and deserved more in this adaptation 😂
I think one of the biggest problems I had with this film is the relationship between Matilda and Ms. Honey. Instead of building their relationship they just focus on songs and the circus story. The cottage scene feels really out of place because Ms. Honey and Matilda barely know eachother. In this movie, even though it's not in the book, I feel like Ms. Phelps should've adopted her instead, because they were much more compatible. And at the beginning of the movie you see them already acting like bestfriends. The film did this dumb "oh she accidently knows her life story and this wasn't in the book" thing instead of focusing on the MAIN CHARACTERS relationships! Idk that just made me kind of upset I'd still rate this movie like a 7/10
@Pierre LillyI understand that, but I just don't really think the Ms. Honey/circus story was altogether necessary. I feel the ending would've felt more natural if Matilda and Honey had an actual bond to speak of besides knowing her life story (like the book) I'm saying I wish they had a connection like Mrs. Phelps did with Matilda, but that's really just my personal opinion, no disrespect or anything.
@Pierre Lilly true, that was a part of their relationship, but you could see Mrs. Phelps wanted to make sure she was okay at home and cared about Matilda
@Pierre Lilly Mrs. Phelps was the one trying to figure out if Matilda's home life was okay, though. She knew something was up, but Matilda wouldn't tell her. She felt much more like a responsible adult than Ms. Honey in this story and a much more capable guardian than a teacher who talks to Matilda about her home life one time.
Yeah, I really didn't like the whole acrobat storyline. It was really over the top, and when it was revealed that it was Miss Honey's actual backstory, which Matilda magically knew, I was rolling my eyes with how cliche and lazy it was. They could've just spent that screentime building Miss Honey and Matilda's friendship. Alternatively, if they wanted to tell the acrobat story, they could've made it a fantastical story that ends up echoing Miss Honey's backstory, which could be more serious and realistic. The story then allows Matilda to understand Miss Honey's backstory when she tells her because she can draw parallels. Or better yet maybe Matilda could be making up the story and telling the librarian as Miss Honey reveals bits of her past, and it's Matilda's way of processing difficult subjects as a child.
I know right? The First movie was Very well thought on every scene while this one... Well... It's more of a expextacle without meaning. And representation. Probably why people see 'diversity' as bad now, because of the lack of actual Deepness on characters and plot
@@filmfangirls9163 Morbius lacked depth and coherence as well, and those were mostly white guys. Does that mean white guys make movies awful by association?
@@ianesgrecia8568 I don't think people see diversity as bad but when you single out a certain race , tell people to watch it purely on it , and focus them down even if they are not even part of the main cast it gets a bit ... dodgy to say the least since most of they time they aren't even held equal but above the others its the same with all these "female empowerment" movies , empowerment does require each gender to be held on equal grounds and not just one made slapstick and the other the only competent ones. That's sexist not empowerment which a lot of these "female empowerment" shows/movies don't seem to get
I personally prefer the actual stage version because of how creative the choreography and stage gimmicks are (I love the choice of casting all the older kids as actual adults)
I saw the play on stage a good few years back. I remember enjoying it a lot. I feel like it stayed truer to the book than the Netflix adaptation. Maybe I’m just misremembering tho, it’s been awhile.
I love the aesthetics of the Netflix adaptation, however I agree that there was so much missing with the storyline probably because I noticed that they were missing a lot from the broadway musical it was based on which was slightly sad however I completely understand why they didn’t put it all in because it would be a much longer movie resulting in a higher budget and less chance of profiting, but if we had those missing scenes it would probably have a different rating.
I have seen Matilda on broadway and I have to say the way the music flows, the choreography, and the sets are amazing. The when I grow up song in that is beautifully done. So impressed by the talents of children in a Broadway production like that.
I loved the choreography for the Broadway production of "When I Grow Up" with the swings. I wish the movie did something similar. I appreciate that they were trying to take advantage of the movie medium by making everything bigger, and being able to do things that just couldn't be done on stage, but I feel like some of the charm from the stage production was lost along the way.
@@happychaosofthenorth as someone who played bruce (not on Broadway lmao) the swings were pretty damn cool. I think when i grow up feels like a waste of time in the movie because it’s more to ease the audience back into the show after intermission. Movies just don’t work like that. There are many other examples and thats why I believe movie musicals shouldn’t be made. Filmings of the original musical work because it’s just the musical with extra cinematography. Some things can be lost (like a assume the telly song was cut for the movie) but it is overall good. Movies should be made with the plan to male them musical, taking a whole new original angle. Or, just don’t make it a musical. Problem solved.
I loved the original Matilda movie, I watched it over and over as a kid. That soundtrack and Danny Devito narrating is just so comforting lyrics nostalgic to me. I agree that the low camera angles really did make it feel like the movie was shot from a child's perspective. The scene where all the kids are playing at lunch and find a salamander is just pure distilled childhood right there.
Amen! David Newman's score for that film was incredible. I still listen to it! As for Danny DeVito, even as such an unlikeable character, I still couldn't hate him (even as a small child watching the film, haha).
Honestly, even if you think the original movie was better or not, the point of the new one isn’t to remake the one that people hold so dearly to their hearts, it is a movie remake of the musical, Matilda. This allows fans of the musical to see a representation of it on screen and I believe that this movie achieved that very well as the songs have amazing choreography, singing and the overall look of the movie is really cool.
But that's the thing. I'm sure that people have very high standards for anyone that re-creates Matilda, especially because of how good and fun it was-- and how the story really stuck out. You can make musicals, but you can't just sing and dance all the time. You can't just leave the plot and make it wave goodbye? I think that's why people are often a bit harsh on it.. but if you don't compare it to the first Matilda-- it's actually cool I guess.
@@gooseinferior for musical theater fans the story wasn't waved goodbye and was found in the music. Musicals have singing and dancing to tell the story. For us who love the musical, and for me who loved the 1996 film, the musical did a great job with a different retelling of the story. I'm afraid musical theater is shafted many many times.
They changed up the characters completely. While it is an “adaptation”, it doesn’t feel like Matilda per se. it is a nice musical.. but for me it isn’t a very good version of Matilda. But oh well- people have their opinions and you are a people. So, I’ll leave this comment be.
The US movie of Matilda was based on the book. The English Stage Production was also based on the book (NOT the US movie). The Netflix Musical is based on the Stage Production. Different interpretations of the same source material. I like them both.
I think actually this film is a fantastic middle point between the movie and the stage version. A lot of the 'new' stuff you've mentioned is a huge part of the stage production, and considering how different the two are, i think this adaptation does a fantastic job of incorporating elements of both. Some songs from the stage version got cut, and others got moved about or re-worked so that they are in slightly different contexts than they originally were, so that might be why some of them feel a bit jarring, but i heavily recommend going and watching the stage version or finding some clips of it online - you'd have a new appreciation for the choices made in the movie!
100% i think a lot of the judgements are misguided considering that the new film is based on the stage play (and if you look into the making of the stage play they deliberately avoided re watching the original film so that it felt like a separate entity)
Yeah. It's tricky, because obviously it's sold as a film, and thus it's obviously gonna be compared to the older one and picked apart like this, but really, because it's an almost exact repeat of the musical (aside from some cuts for time), it's more like a spectacle for people that haven't seen the stage musical/want an alternative for it. "Musicals directly adapted to film" like Les Mis, In the Heights or The Producers have very different goals and intentions for the audience than "film musicals" like most Disney stuff (and even further removed from normal films like the original Matilda), and this means they usually have a weird feeling flow and writing compared to them.
The one thing I think the original did better was the goodbye between her and her dad and family. The original dad was scummy and abrasive but it felt like although he didnt get his daughter he did want her to be a part of the family or at least be 'normal' like them. So when they went their separate ways, you could at least get the feeling that he does love her and accepts that while he doesn't understand her, she deserved to be with those who do. The new one was straight up a jerk through & through, who made it clear he didnt enjoy having her around which made me wonder why he and his wife even kept her instead of putting her up for adoption or something, the ending goodbyes between them is a bit more jarring because he suddenly shows affection (what ever that was) where up to that point, there really was none. Edit: also, the og one is Danny DeVito. Fight me. >:(
It's better in the stage show. Matilda actually saves her family from the Mafia. Her father actually gains some respect for her, and when after having that moment with her his hat comes off on its own, which I much prefer than the movie where we see Matilda release the glue.
I agree, in this rendition of Matilda, the story was too focused on the subplot about Miss Honey's backstory. You hardly even get to see Matilda develop her powers and use them. She uses them twice in this movie and then that was it. Also, this Matilda is giving me The Orphan vibes. 😂
I find it really weird. They only have one song about Matilda’s story in the original musical, and it’s about miss honey’s dad finding out miss trunchbull abused her or something? It just confuses me.
@@stevendalloesingh1214 But the subplot also has mystical elements because Matilda sees, much like a premonition or a vision, Miss Honey's backstory. So the whole movie revolves around magic. I'd much rather the movie focused on Matilda and not Miss Honey.
Ik I'm late lol but yeah. Like the whole subplot of Matilda's "story" is actually kinda heartbreaking when you realise its based around her ideal vision of a family taken away from her. But then it's like "oop never mind Miss. Honey was the main character all along".
What hits home for me with Mathilda, is that it's a real-world response to fairytales. There is this little girl, and she is abused by her parents, and a horrible headmaster, but she gets a fairy Godmother who is kind, and loving, and helps her grow. But instead of how it is in the fairytales, Ms. Honey isn't a magical, all-powerful Glinda. She's a person with her own struggles, and suffers the same abuse that Mathilda is suffering, despite being grown up. And so the audience learns that even grown-ups don't have all the answers, and that even kids can be the hero, the all-powerful magical being. And that's the draw. The CHILD is finding the bravery to help the ADULT get free from the abuse she hasn't been able to escape by herself. Suffice it to say, I don't think it's a concept that lends itself to being explored in musical form, and I'll probably not be watching the new movie.
You have to remember this was primarily made for a British audience where practically everybody knows the story of Matilda like the back of their hand.
@@MaxOakland Roald Dahl books were THE books to read for children in the 70s, 80s and 90s in the UK. Ask anyone who went to school during that time and they'll tell you their favourite books from that time. Mine are the BFG, The Witches, James and the Giant Peach, The Twits, Boy and Going Solo. Matilda was also good. I literally bought another Roald Dahl compilation of short stories a month ago to please my inner child's need for fantasy. So, when the original films were made, they were based on the books - that we all had either read, or read after watching the film. Roald Dahl, amazing author.
Matilda in the musical used reading as an escape from her traumatizing life, which makes the line “reading is like a holiday in my head” make a lot more sense. Also, the creator showed more to the fact that Matilda was traumatized when she sang a song about disassociating while getting yelled at by miss Trenchbull. Traumatized people, like Matilda, sometimes will unwilling disassociate when something bad is happening to them, because it's your brain's way of protecting you from experiencing another traumatizing event. So I think the creator wanted us to know her love for books was because she was trying to escape reality.
Yes! and I think THAT is what this movie-musical did better than the 1996 movie (and perhaps the book but, its been a while since I've read it). I greatly appreciated how they portrayed her disassociating, because I did the EXACT same thing. It made me feel that connection to Matilda that the book and the 1996 movie did. It happens again when her father yells at her and she makes up a story where a father is rescuing her from the abuse and hurt being done to her. I did the exact same thing when I was younger.. watching that scene hurt. The connection with this character ended there though. Over all, I still think the 1996 movie told the full story better. Like the story in this movie-musical was too focused on Ms. Honey and HER growth as a character; all the character development Matilda got in the books and 1996 movie was given to miss Honey in this musical. Yes we see more of Matilda's dissociation and its shown very accurately, but the rest of her character isn't given the same kind of treatment. The story is supposed to be about Matilda.
Quite frankly... this video thinks the musical missed the point of Matilda, and i don't get it. Quiet is masterpiece characterizing her. Did he understood the lyrics at all?
As a person who’s watched the musical irl. I can definitely say that most of the stuff in this musical movie is just a part of the musical 😭😭 including the whole miss honey backstory thing
@@Eric123_lol yes very edgy but still, I want to know, why is the movie adaptation of a musical, being a musical and using the plot of the musical because it is a adaptation a bad thing
I commented this elsewhere but what I loved about Matilda was how, at its heart, it’s about recognizing abusive and neglectful adults. It is whimsical and otherworldly when the parents are mean, or the director is crazy. When it’s only Matilda and miss honey, it is cute and charming, because it is the right place for Matilda to be. Idk the musical lost the “found family” aspect of the story, and how one shouldn’t tolerate abuse, even when it comes from your own parents
did you watch the musical??? There's a massive part of the plot that deals with ms honey accepting matilda s family, and not tolerating abuse from Trunchbull as Matilda learns to do the same.
I mean she sleeps in a dirty attic(seriously why are people overlooking that).... And poor Ms Honey was brutally abused and thrown in a basement. There are many talks of abuse in this.
It’s not a remake, it’s a different adaptation of a stage play of a book! Matilda was my first book I bought myself at 11, it’s not changing anything that’s gone before.
If I were to be honest, I love the part in PE where Matilda started singing (another song 🙃) about how everyone is yelling and how everything is loud and her rage grows but then it’s quiet, because I relate with it so much, my parents fought a lot and it was mostly because of me, I never knew that a childrens musical remake would make me cry.
As someone who’s seen the musical I do think it’s funny you thought there were to many songs and no character arc for matilda because many of the songs that were cut were the songs that completed how it’s actually mis honey’s character that grows over the story. The only songs in that outline they left in were the hammer, my house, and when I grow up, since pathetic and loud got cut.
I loved pathetic and this little girl because they actually develop Miss Honey as a character and make her more of a character than a plot device. Loud is also pretty good because it shows the audience what her parents are like and actually contains quite a few truths about life.
The original play was longer, so there was obviously more time for the story to take place. All this stuff was in the original play, and there is only one new song right at the end of the film. You think there are too many songs? They cut out a few!!! (Btw crying over the loss of Michael and 'Telly')
While Mara Wilson will always be Matilda to me, Alisha Weir did a phenomenal job, given how demanding the role is, and how Matilda is in almost every scene. Also, she's Irish in real life, and dons a convincing British accent.
The new one is very flashy (which makes sense for Broadway) but that makes it feel like a fever dream of a movie. The first one felt like it had more depth and things were paced out and shown better for a movie/book adaptation. They are two different mediums though, I just prefer the earlier one.
Because That’s your problem You guys really need to stop putting sequels/remakes/reboots/adaptations in the shadow of the originals and just let them have their own independent successes and be treated as something completely separate it’s a nasty habit that needs to be stopped
@@madnessarcade7447 this is just the wrong attitude to have. With this attitude all we’ll get in Hollywood is remakes. All remakes should be compared to the original because they share the same story. Comparing remakes to the original is like comparing older sibling to younger sibling.
@@madnessarcade7447 nobody is trying to put them in the shadows but the whole point is to improve/ bring a new perspective or expand upon the story . If the new one doesn't improve or add anything to the story then what's the point .
The thing is the new movie wasn’t actually based off the old version, it was more based off of the actual musical. I don’t think you ever mentioned that, but it really is fun to see a musical get turned into an actual movie Edit: Sorry to start a war- but somebody DID tell me it was said in the beginning. I know that now, but it was just like the whole video was being called nonsense because of the added songs. It also changed a lot from the original broadway musical which I feel would be more accurate to compare from.
@@Biostar96 he knew it was a musical and said that but through the whole dang vid it kept calling the 1996 film "the original" so he still considers it a remake.
@@filmfangirls9163 It doesn't really imply "remake," it implies that they're telling the same story and the original one came before (the original was a book, but as a film, Matilda was the og). If he said "the first film" people would still complain about the same thing. He'd have to be annoyingly specific the whole video to avoid misunderstandings. People just get hotblooded over their favorite media, it happens. I used to hate that Shrek the Musical always got shit on because I actually prefer it to the og movie, but now I just accept my fate as the dumbass who likes a musical fanfiction. Basically, the same goes for Matilda, but the other way around. I much prefer the (first) movie over the musical because the musical is nonsense to me while the movie moved me. I'm a sucker for people getting thrown away and finding other people who were also thrown away and adopting each other I guess.
One thing I personally loved about this version is the portrayal of Hortensia. In the original movie (which is my all-time favourite movie btw), she is kind of drab. In this movie, she is a total badass; the Grace Vanderwaal bob, a broken arm, the lollipop... I would not want to go up against her.
The song about growing up 'When I grow up' is actually a classic Matilda the Musical song so it was kinda necessary in the movie. I remember being in a musical theatre group when I was 8 and this was a song we sung cause it was popular. However some of the new songs aren't as necessary.
The movie actually cut out a few songs that are centered and focused on Ms. Honey's development as a character which is why I believe the song "When I grow up" exists (Just because it highlights that adults are still scared of bullies themselves contrary to what children might believe). As a matter of fact, I think that the main character in the Broadway musical should be Ms. Honey since she gets more development than Matilda. I think it focused more on her ability to stand up to her own bully Edit: just thought I should add I haven’t actually seen the musical but I have been a big fan of the track for years and it is the impression I got by just listening to the songs.
When I grow up, it was about miss honey growing up. And the kids and her still need to grow up. It shows how she still wants to grow up. If that makes sense.
In the stage version you do get to see Miss Honey go on more of a satisfying emotional journey- I was cast in a production of Matilda pre covid and the director had a talk with all of us at the callback about how he interpreted Miss Honey as the true lead of the show
The same for the parents too. You got to know more of Mrs Wormwood through Loud (which then made Quiet that much more impactful) and Mr Wormwood through Telly (rip Michael). Small but important songs to show just how different their daughter is from them.
The parents (especially the mom) get a lot more stage time in the Broadway musical and features vignettes of Matilda trying to teach them about books when they berate her
Exactly, and it almost was in this adaptation as well. Like the actress that played Matilda's mother rehearsed the musical's song Loud for months, only for them to cut it in the final version. Like, Loud is a very good song that shows her parents a lot more as people, and I think, even though would've made the adaptation longer, it was definitely needed
9:00 That musical number was made because on Stage they didn't make a kid eat all that,so the Number was fast and bright to distract you from the eating of the cake
I think the flipped dynamic between Matilda and Ms Honey in the musical, where Ms Honey is the one to learn a moral lesson from Matilda, is more impactful. It makes sense for a grown woman who has experienced a lifetime worth of mistreatment to learn a lesson from a child whose idealism hasn't been worn away yet. Children intuitively have very strong senses of what is and isn't fair. They often know the world's not fair, it's just that they haven't yet stopped believing that it can be. The song, "When I Grow Up" perfectly encapsulates this. All the children dream of perfect futures, although they'll still have to "fight the creatures that you have to fight beneath the bed". As Ms Honey recites those lyrics, she's backed by Matilda, a child who has always known that life isn't fair, singing of one's responsibility to do what's right, with the former finally taking on the responsibility of a grown up as one to fight for their own fair treatment, in her case by her aunt.
I think a lot of people are setting themselves up for failure when they go into this movie with the intention of comparing it to the Danny DeVito/Mara Wilson version, because they should be viewed as entirely different entities of an original story. The musical originally opened in London before transferring to Broadway, so I think it feels more suited to British audiences generally (i.e the jokes, direction etc). Whereas the 1996 version is much more American and it reflects that. Both adaptions take liberties and different story directions from the books and as a result create very separate pieces. As a musical theatre fan, the musical version is an absolute masterclass. The score and lyrics are truly brilliant and they represent the innocence of youth and the harsh reality of adulthood beautifully. I think the musical also has a much more mature and darker tone, which is fitting for Roald Dahl's preference with story telling. The creator didn't take any influence from the 1996 version, which is why they're so different and should be treated as such. I know many other fans who believe that the musical version is more mature and dark compared the og movie, as there are many creative choices which strive to resonate with both young and old audiences. 'When I Grow Up' is a brilliant example of that, as it represents the innocent view of adulthood that children have, giving younger audiences a chance to feel connected and understood with the characters, while older audiences feel nostalgic and sentimental as they reflect on their own childhood and the experience they had as they became adults. Mara Wilson's Matilda is much more light hearted and 'warm' if that makes sense. It's still a brilliant movie and still has great acclaim, I equally love both versions and I think that's how they should remain. But the two can't be compared at all, they both deserve to be viewed as standalone equals that tell the same story but in unique and different ways. I'd very much recommend trying to listen to the musical's score more, especially with the subtitles/lyrics on as you'll truly begin to see the mastery of the storytelling. That's why there are so many songs, as the weave the story between the dialogue and action beautifully. I think watching clips or slime tutorials (bootlegs of the musical) would provide a better understanding of the show's storytelling.
@@carolinagavilan3620 educating people on the stage musical and talking about the different adaptations is not comparing them. It's giving educated information. Something Alex should have done.
As a big fan of the stage musical- the reason why Matilda is telling the stories rather than sitting and reading them- is because the directors realised that watching someone on stage reading a book would not be the most visually interesting and best use of the medium of theatre. In the show Matilda goes to a physical library to see Mrs Phelps where she comes up with her story, and you know from the context that she already has a close relationship with the library and books.
haven't seen the the stage play, but making it Miss Honey's back story is dumb. Also instead of her telling the story make her sing about love for books with a dance conation, the songs in a Musical are suppose to help tell the story, In Beauty and the beast, a Musical shows Belle reading and singing her joy of reading books.
@@dissapointed_spaghetti The songs Matilda's parents sing in the musical (that were cut for this film) "Loud" and "Telly", were about how they think Matilda's interest in books and reading is strange (in their view). I think the film misses that contrast between Matilda and her family, but understand that songs make the film longer.
@@sarahbourne1872 Haven't seen the play but the more I hear about it the more I don't want to see it. sorry it feels like they are making Matilda a Mary sue, but I like I said haven't seen the play
One thing really bothered me. Matilda's powers. In the book she needs to practice just to keep a bit of chalk up and she's exhausted after spilling the glass of water. I thought she was kinda overpowered in the first film but it's nothing compared with this one. She is bassicly a god, I mean really, a gigant chain monster? That would have put her in a 10 year old coma if it was in the book
Agreed! Also something not many have commented on, is at the end of the book, Matilda looses her powers. Her abilities are a manifestation of her mind not being challenged enough even when she gets into school, so when the Trunch is ousted, and miss honey adopts her, she gets the education and challenge she needs, and her powers naturally fade away.
Yes! Me and my sister watched this movie and it was so disappointing how the cup of water just immediately floated, in the original movie, the cup not even moving gave Matilda and miss honey some trust because miss honey immediately believed her, no questions asked.
Think the stage version has the right amount of powers. Both films have too much imo. Just because they can do special effects, doesn’t mean they should.
Alex literally included the clip from the 1996 movie where she's manipulating literally everything in a room at the same time. That would take so much more divided attention at once than it would take to group a bunch of chains together. The effects in the new one might have looked more impressive, but she was actually far more overpowered in the older movie if you think for even three seconds about how powers like that would have to work. Once again, nostalgia leads to a complete lack of critical thought.
I loved the book as a kid, so I was assuming it would be similar to the book and it wasn't, which felt like a great disservice (cutting out the brother, the relationship with her parents and a more in-depth development of Miss Honey). My favourite part in the book is when she first discovers her powers and spends literal months pranking her brother and parents - it felt like such a great payback. I haven't seen any of the films include that.
The first film definitely does a lot of the pranking part. I agree though, having seen the stage musical I think the musical writers ended up adapting 'children in Roald Dahl books' more than Matilda as a character. They do however have a lot more in the musical about her family, which was clearly cut for time in the adaptation.
@@ellencoleman4604 The 96' had a good chunk of it, but pranks like the parrot in the chimney were left out (I remember asking my friends if they had a parrot because I wanted to do something similar and we didn't even have a chimney haha). I have never seen the broadway musical, so that's why I just focused on the films that had been made
@@ccrraazzyyggiirrll Because That’s your problem You guys really need to stop putting sequels/remakes/reboots/adaptations in the shadow of the originals and just let them have their own independent successes and be treated as something completely separate it’s a nasty habit that needs to be stopped
@@madnessarcade7447 Independent from the book? On its own yeah it’s awesome, but this was an adaptation from the broadway musical and the broadway musical is an adaptation of the book. It’s a pretty stupid idea to ask people to treat things independently if the idea, storyline and characters are NOT original
I understand that this one is based off of the Broadway musical, but I still had issues. The lack of development with miss honey and her family- Its just harder to connect with matilda as a character. Also it really bothered me that it felt open ended with matilda and the Librarian idk maybe im missing the point😭💀
What really bothered me was the whole "two wrongs don't make a right" thing. Because the lady repeats it and I'm thinking Matilda is gonna learn THAT lesson but at the end... not really, revenge always worked for her. EDIT: Ok,since obviously my comment is being misinterpreted: I'm not talking about the moral of the movie. I agree Matilda was in the right and we obviously need to make a stand. My comment was about the WRITING. I'm not saying that should be the lesson, I'm saying putting that line there and repeat it makes the audience think it's going to have some effect on the story. It's like saying "hear this, pay attention to this, it's gonna come back later!" But it doesn't. And that's BAD WRITING
Yes! I was confused waiting for that arc to show up even just a little but it's like they threw it in there like a "Don't try this at home, kids" disclaimer but then didn't show any consequences for acting out of revenge. At least the OG movie she believed it was justice based on her father's words.
And her astounding ability to maintain a terrifying amount of threatening eye contact. She really was astounding, but there were so many parts of her scenes in particular that were so uncomfortable to sit through. Going to rate it really high, but it was a really interesting thing to sort through during something during “kid movie night”.
I think the point of that is that lessons adults give to children about bullies don't really work? It was the same about telling the headmistress, kinda saying adults don't have the full context of a bullied kid and their well meaning advice don't always work?
And then Matilda says “unless they do”. More people need to learn that lesson and not be a doormat like Ms. Honey. Standing up for yourself even if it is “wrong” is the only way you are going to make things better.
in the book and the original, it was a lesson Matilda misinterpret. Her father told her "when people do something wrong they need to be punished" So when her parents and other people were bad to her she "punished them". both the book and the original said that this is wrong, that there is a difference between standing up oneself from revenge,
I think the movie and plot being rushed and loosing part of the whole story is due to the movie being just about 2 hours, while the stage production is longer giving a bit more space for the story and in between songs. But since the movie had to cram all characters and songs in and still be a watchable length they had to sacrifice a lot, leaving at times only the bare bones of the story left. “Revolting Children” is not supposed to prove Trunchbull right, it’s supposed to show them taking back their free will and minds, the ability to think and stand up for themselves. They are finally able to just BE children and be a bit naughty or act out without fear of literal torture in retribution. This is kind of lost with how it’s performed in the movie
As someone currently in a production of Matilda, just know that they cut four songs out of the movie so… yeah. The stage production is also very fast paced with songs coming right after one another, musical underscoring under nearly every scene, and choreography that has tons going on at the same time. The movie definitely kept that same feeling, but I feel like that works a lot better on stage than on screen.
En that makes sense, I want to watch the production of Matilda (I’ve listened to the album soundtrack for it and waiting for it to come back to where I am) but I always feel for movies that use musicals as their basis it’s like, some of those songs were necessary for the musical but not for movie. eg like the chocolate cake song because obviously we can’t actually just be staring at a boy eating cake in silence on stage for a few minutes etc. but in a movie where you can do this with close ups of the kid and reactions of others you don’t need that music to add to anything and so what was ‘enough’ for stage becomes ‘too much’ for movie Good luck in production 👍
Thank god, I hate musicals, when people are talking and the other person just starts singing I find it so cringy, when Matilda and honey were in the house and honey was just like “tHis iS mY hOmE 5x” like it’s like cool bruh you got a good voice but just keep that shit for Spotify or albums, imo singing is just not for movies, like if you were actually Matilda there you would be like wtf is this lady doing.
i would really encourage you to listen to 'quiet' from the musical again, and maybe read the lyrics. Matilda is incredibly neglected by her parents and traumatized and uses school and learning to dissociate from this. The musical focuses more closely on the elements of the book of Matilda gaining control of her environment because she feels so unstable and like she has no control.
I think the biggest issue with the musical is that you're right. When you get to it, it loses all sense of the original book and the movie. Miss Honey's character was barely developed and she's a critical part. Michael (her brother) was cut entirely when I think he really showed that Matilda'a parents had the CAPABILITY to care for a kid, but just not HER. I think you said it best when you said that it's a good movie musical, it's just not a good Matilda movie. I always related to Matilda when I was a kid because of my somewhat abusive parent, and having connections to some of my own teachers who considered me like their own. I'm so disappointed that this is what came out of it because it is so far from what the original movie is, and what I believe was Roald Dahl's intentions in his book.
@abbytiptonxx I know it's based off the stage musical, heck I even saw it myself twice. Still, I think it does a really bad job of moving from the stage to the screen and loses the messages from the original book, AND the stage musical.
my dad was a near-carbon copy of the 1997 Mr. Wormwood (except for the car thing) this adaptation makes a mockery of Matilda's, mine, and so many other's abuses. Netflix describes the abuse as "bullying" which felt wrong when i first watched it. it took another 2 watches to figure out the reason. i WANT to like this one but it hurts.
They made her mischievous like in the book, but she is still watered down considerably. The book had three or four chapters with Mathilda pranking her family aided by a neighbor boy, which IMO were among the funniest bits of the book, being episodic and always ending with a clever to against her parents. She is a clever little rascal there, I hoped they would keep this part of her character too.
@@rainbabypersonally I think the older version has some pretty mature moments. The more fun or magical moments definitely appeal to kids but the family dynamics and some of the character nuances I feel don't sink in quite as much until you're older (like the reasons that Trunchbull targets Matilda I think can be lost on some kids). But a lot of the elements of the new one I think are way too OTT or depart too much from a realistic story to land with an adult audience. Like the whole element of Matilda knowing Miss Honey's back story is a very odd detour to take. Roald Dahl books often don't worry themselves with realism and Broadway productions are by their nature more OTT, and that's completely fine. I enjoy Dahl's books and I enjoy Broadway musicals. But movies are a totally different medium, and honestly I think trying to stick too close to the original is a pitfall a lot of film adaptations of musicals fall into. What works on a stage is probably not going to work in a movie. But also the original film I think also resonated with a lot of children (and adults) who were abused growing up, and with the way they went with the new one, they were never going to capture that same feeling. And I think that it had that going against it, because the comparison was always going to be inevitable even if the new movie was trying to be its own thing seperate from the origin film.
I've seen the stage show and think this is a great adaption of it. I personally didn't miss the cut songs and the visual nods to the original movie in this version are genius. The tone, pace and feel of the stage version are kept and often enhanced so it is a feature not a bug.
Fun fact, I met one of my best friends, after he played in the Matilda musical!! He is very into theater and played the boy that gets stuck in the cage-thing
I grew up with the original movie as well as all of Roald Dahl's books and I think the musical did a great job capturing Dahl's charm (this being the "this could have only come from a child's imagination" levels of strange at every turn). Maybe the original movie was sweet and heart felt but the musical was just as strange as all of Dahl's works.
I actually have a TON of nostalgia with the 1996 movie. We kept the vhs at our extended family’s beach condo so we only got to watch it once a year, kinda turned into a tradition. So I don’t think anything could beat the original for me 😭 Edit: I never said the musical was bad, I never even spoke on the quality of the musical. Can y’all chill in these replies please.
Love what you love! It's not a remake of the movie it's just a movie version of the musical. They're two very different tales of the book and both rock in my opinion! You do you!
Because That’s your problem You guys really need to stop putting sequels/remakes/reboots/adaptations in the shadow of the originals and just let them have their own independent successes and be treated as something completely separate it’s a nasty habit that needs to be stopped
The musical is its own adaptation of the book, it’s a very good stage show and the film is a very good adaptation of that show. Think of the phantom of the opera for example: the 1925 film is an adaptation of the 1911 book, as is the stage show. They’re two separate pieces of work with the same source material. The 2004 film is a direct adaptation of the stage show, we don’t see it as a remake of the original. It’s the same with Matilda. The new film is a direct adaptation of the stage show, which is adapted from the book, not the 90s film. Same source material, separate films.
@@madnessarcade7447 you’re making it sound like I committed an armed robbery or something omg breathe. The adaptations were being compared in the video, as they logically would be, so I gave my own opinion. Calm down.
I absolutely agree about the pacing. It really felt like we didn't get to know any of the characters throughout the movie. Especially with so much time spent on the story Matilda is telling which is such a weird addition to the story. Like why does she know Miss Honey's life story randomly? It's never explained. It's just random.
I agree, and think that goes back to the songs. Like he said, there were so many that things like character and plot development had to be super rushed. My issue is that you totally CAN have character and plot development with lots of songs (my favorite stage musical is Les Miserables, for crying out loud, which is 100% singing). You just need to incorporate those things into the songs. In Matilda though each song focused on a single point and sang about it, so everything was on hold, or at least slowed down significantly, during the song.
I just saw the movie yesterday. As someone who watched the original movie and the musical West End Production. I found the cinematic musical enjoyable. There were parts that I liked, and some parts that I didn't which was just moments when they cut or changed the songs, or awkward out of nowhere musical numbers. Like Miracle. I freaking love that song. And I'm a bit upset that they made 'babies' sing it and cutting out some of my favourite lines. Not to mention missing the message of the song Miracle. In the stage production, Miracle starts with kids at a birthday party. Each bratty, stubborn and full of themselves, saying how their parents call them miracles. Each with a concerning behaviour, one bragging about being a soldier when they've older so they can shoot people in the face and then a girl who wants to be a ballerina refuses to put the work in it, especially give up cake before screaming for more cake. Then you have the parents not seeing the flaws, and anyone or anything that says otherwise is not the fault of the child but the environment. (a particular line about a kids school report where the parents decide to change schools because they think the teachers are blind to their miracle of a child) Then you have the balloon guy who was hired for the party, surrounded by these annoying hyperactive children. Questioning that if every child was miraculous then wouldn't that make them un-miraculous? This being important as for when Matilda's part comes in, it draws a deep comparison. The only child not called a Miracle is unironically the most miraculous. The cinematic follows the song kinda accurately, I guess. They cut out Matilda's mum whole solo and subsequence c plot which I can understand because that part wasn't my favourite and ruined the song for me. But as a result they cut out the reason for their disdain for Matilda and one of the best jokes. Speaking of cutting out things. They cut out Matilda's older brother and Redalfo(?) (a Musical exclusive character). Which I can understand as Matilda's brother has next to no lines in the musical. The most he ever said was 'Tele' when he was singing 'Tele' with his dear old dad after intermission. Probably a waste of money to have him in but it removes the comparison of how Matilda's parents treats her brother compared to herself. Redalfo I can understand because they completely cut out Matilda's mum c plot which Redalfo was a part of. I felt like the School song could've been started off better. In the stage production you had new students singing Miracle, shyly singing that their parents think they're miracles. Before being brutely taken down by the students who have been beaten down by reality. But I'm glad they kept the alphabet representation :). The Bruce song was definitely fun. I remembered being board in West End during that song but the cinematic release really hyped it up in a fun way. Love 'When I grow up', it was very cute. Not as grand as the stage production in terms of vocal performances but I loved the visuals. Made me warm inside seeing the kids imagine having fun thinking what it would be like to be a adult where they can do whatever they wanted. Miss Trunchbull's Throw a Hammer song was fun, I love that they kept the students singing through the screen from the stage production. That was one of my favourite parts from the stage production. I strangely enough loved Miss Phelps the librarian in the cinematic release as I didn't really cared for her in the stage production. She was a fun loving character. They blew Revolting Children out of the park. They changed it a bit (not much but to a point that I prefer the stage production version a bit more) but I love the performance and love how they kept the choreography. I had a massive grin on my face the whole time. The new cinematic song 'Hold Your Hand' or whatever was a nice addition. I understand that they needed a proper ending song compared to the stage production where they ended with 'When I Grow Up Reprise'. So it did its job. Matilda's actress. I don't know if they had one of the leads from West End to play Matilda or someone new but her eyes man. They stare into my soul. And I can't exactly hate her dead stare as I feel that people can relate to her. Those who have trouble expressing themselves facially, and have to do so with either words or actions. So while it unnerved me a little, I like it. The Magnus chain monster thing was cool too. Not as traumatising as the original movie but still super cool. I definitely saw where the budget went for this movie. Now Miss Trunchbull herself, I can't believe that's Nanny McPhee. Like, I can kinda see it. Two hardy women in their own right, one a Olympic medalist the other a British War Soldier. Both don't like unruly, chaotic, rebellious children. Both uses harsh methods of punishment to teach their lessons. The only difference is that Nanny McPhee has good intentions and good lessons to teach while Miss Trunchbull is just a Tyrant. Miss Hunny was lovely, I love the rep and it didn't feel out of place. Especially since anyone can be a Miss Hunny, no matter their race or skin colour. And on a final note. Justice for the underrated song 'Tele'.
Yeah the transition to School Song felt off, like they were just being jumped by older students for no reason. Makes more sense in the original musical that they’re essentially warning the new students. It doesn’t come off like that at all in the cinematic adaptation.
@@hamotin1michael160 "Where's his thingy?!" "His what?" "You know his thingy! What did you do to his thingy?!" "His-this child is a girl, she doesn't have a-thingy." "What?! No thingy?!?!! Look at what you did you stupid woman!! This boy got no thingy!!" Not exactly word by word. I'm going off memory from years ago and my memory isn't that good. But this was one of the jokes they took out.
@@Iamjack_x I got no skill in video making mate. I can write you a whole essay but I don't have the time, patience, experience or skill to make a video.
Having never seen the stage musical prior to this movie, I liked the added elements, particularly the storyline of the Escapologist and the Acrobat, and how it's paid off later on.
That's my favorite plot line of the story. The musical was less about Matildas relationship with her parents and more about her relationship with Ms Honey and her fathers spirit showing Matilda his story. I loved it.
I was kinda shook when I started this video because it seems you changed your format a bit. I personally like analysis/commentary videos and with the updated animation it flowed nicely. It was just the intro that threw me because I was not expecting this kind of content. I'm also pleasantly surprised that you fit all this in under 19 minutes.
I'd like to imply that this adaptation is based off of the West End musical mostly based on the book, not the movie. I think people see this but there are some who just see adaptation and instantly complain.
This video doesn't imply anything different. He compares and contrasts the two film versions because they're both films, there's an obligatory relationship if they're going to exist in the same art form. The Netflix one is easily the more full production and a good musical film, since it's an adaptation of a good musical... but the storytelling in the 90s adaptation is too superior to just ignore.
@@benjsmithproductions i feel as though films and musical have very different goals in terms of audience, how they want to make you feel etc. like his complaint abt 'too many songs' is really a moot point because unfortunately thats how musicals work. similarly with his complaints regarding the side plot of matilda making up a story. i agree that i prefer the film, im not into musicals myself, but i feel some of the comparisons are unfair.
I quite love this adaptation as its like a middle ground between the book and the musical. And the way they had When I Grown Up right after Bruce was really beautiful; the kids just witnessed abuse from a person whose supposed to uplift them and help them join the real world, and When I Grow Up is them fantasizing about escaping that abuse and how once they are grown up, they'll be able to "fight the monsters under their beds" aka the trauma they received from Ms. Trunchbull and fight anyone else who tries to lay that same trauma and abuse onto other children. Ms. Honey also singing with the children shows how all the abuse she continuously receives makes her feel so small and like a child imagining how live would be if/when the abuse ends. And for Revolting Children, it’s a song about finally being able to fight back against your abuser and have your voice finally heard instead of being dismissed. As someone who lives in an abusive household I’ve always found When I Grow Up and Quiet extremely relatable and hearing Revolting Children always fills me with such joy that those kids (even though they are fictional) we’re able to do what I have always dream of
This is the problem with turning plays into movies. A lot of them look like plays that were turned into movies. It’s almost like watching a Hallmark movie without commercials. It’s clearly made for there to be small breaks as a scene changes and so transitions between scenes can seem clunky and like we’re just going from one location to the next with nothing between.
Not to mention that most plays run for hours, while movies are only budgeted to run for 1hr+30min. I'm sure it'd be better if they were able to be unlimited with the length of the movie. It's like book to movie adaptions, they have to leave out the less important things because there's no way of adding it into the movie as it won't make sense without the context.
@@cerrida82 I had to look it up as I don't watch musicals much. I'm assuming, and I feel it'd be logical, the 1st part will be before the events of Dorothy and up to it, and 2nd part would be right after Dorothy. Otherwise idk how the play would go. If that is how it goes then it would be a good idea for them to put it in parts. Though sucks they can't do it all at once and just have one big 3hr movie. At least in parts they have more room to include things they otherwise wouldn't be able to if they tried shoving it all into an hour long film
I'll say it again. I love all of the, not dumb, but not like deep deep analysis videos, but i think its also awesome when Alex puts in these deep segments/really thoughtful analysis of shows/movies and their impact
The adults are the older kids in the show. They symbolize just how much older and scarier the older kids look to the really little kids going to school for the first time. Edit: The Matilda musical is pretty solid honestly. personally it's not an album I listen to every song on but it has a few really good songs (revolting children being one of them). The dancing was always it's strong suit in my opinion.
I remember 4th graders being 5m tall with shadows over their eyes when I was in 1st grade, while my 2m uncle was just one head taller as he was so nice..!
They actually cut songs and the older brother out, probably to help with the pacing. I think the mom has a song, which they filmed, so I hope they release it as an extra.
I feel like part of the reason this movie doesn't fully work, and you'll be shocked to hear this, is because it is quite cut down. In the stage show there is more time developed to exploring (yes in song) the relationship between Matilda and Miss Honey, as well as Matilda's crummy home life.
I agree with your commentary. The sets, costumes, colors, choreography, and songs was beautiful! The song Matilda sings at her house in the musical had a great message about not accepting shitty circumstances in your life and how you can overcome them. The musical was good but it dragged on because it was so many songs. I paused this movie so many times because it felt like it was too much going on at once 😭 The OG Matilda will always be #1 in my book! SN: Those kids was was killin that choreography the entire movie!! 🔥🔥👏🏽
This version actually has quite a few less songs than the Broadway musical, it just feels like a lot since it is 40 minutes shorter than the original musical so it’s a bit rushed
I don't know if it's a good thing, but I think the movie musical hinges on the fact that people already know the storyline/plot. So it focuses on adding more to what was already intially there, rather than re-solidifying every character arc.
this movie is definitely one of those things where if you're not a musical person, you won't like it. "the girls that get it, get it" sort of thing. plus what many people don't understand is you can't really compare the two movies, unless you're bringing the original source material into the conversation. the musical isn't based off of the first movie at all, just the book. they're both their own adaptation and deserve to be treated as such, and not compared to each other.
The trouble is, though, the musical is relying on memory from the movie for a lot of it's emotional weight. I love musicals, but I didn't like this one. The fear of the choky is wasted by never showing anyone inside it, just external reactions (which can only go so far). Ms. Honey's fear of Trunchbull feels weaker since it's based on emotional jibes and the childhood incident with the cellar, and it cripples her character since she has less reason to not report Trunchbull. And the message of the story feels disjointed. Is it about revenge vs justice? We never see negative consequences for revenge so no. Is it about found family? We don't spend much time seeing a family relationship grow between Ms. Honey and Matilda, so no. Is it about children having the right to be bratty sometimes? Quite possibly given that it has like 3 songs dedicated to that idea.
@@MerWhoPotLuck9 i disagree on the insinuation the 1996 movie is relevant to this, the books are a lot more iconic and remembered then the movie, roald dahl is extremely well regarded The movie is about standing up for what you believe in instead of accepting whats around you, they literally call it.a revolution at one point
@@MerWhoPotLuck9saying that this film is at all dependent on the 1996 film is absurd; it should be obvious from simply watching the new film that that is not the case, even more so if you consider that the screenwriter and book writer for both the stage and screen has yet to even watch that version. the argument about chokey is another thing that gets me; the fact that we don’t see it’s interior is deliberate.. it creates so much more mystery and allows the imagination to run wild, which, as a dramatic technique, is way more terrifying.
@@chargestone96 really? Cuz before this video I didn’t even know there was a book maybe I had seen it somewhere and forgot but I feel like more know the movie
When I Grow Up isn’t unnecessary. It’s sung immediately after Bruce is put into the Chokey. These kids are literally living in a hell and the song is about the essentially feeling like this is just normal and that all these problems will go away when they’re adults. And then Miss Honey sings, and we realize everyone is always waiting for that magical time when we know everything and our problems resolve themselves, but that time doesn’t come unless we do something.
For this movie they took out at lot of key points and songs from the original stage play, (as someone who knows the original stage play well) the parents both has solo songs, as well Ms honey also had two solo songs to herself, on top of ‘my house’ all of which got cut out. Due to both the parent song’s getting cut out, as well as the brother character entirely removed from the script in the movie, it left a large chuck of Matilda’s family life out of the story, something that is very important to the character. I can understand why they cut some songs due to time restrictions of the films length, but (in case you didn’t know) the last song was an original for the movie. They could have used that time spend on that new song on other song. For example ‘loud’, the song her mother sings. It’s during when miss honey goes to Matilda’s house to drop off further reading for her, showing both the audience and miss honey how her mother views the world and Matilda. That would have been better the story. All in all I do think they did well with what they where given, I loved the actress that played Matilda. Also fun fact, if you didn’t know the Truchball in the stage production is almost always played by a male dressed up as a female.
As much as I remember about the stage production there was a lot more character development about her dad. I feel like they had to cut a lot of it out to fit into a movie length and still keep all the songs.
I actually really enjoyed how the new Matilda was headstrong and wasn't timid, I think it actually made her seem less 'perfect'. A lot of kids are constantly being told to shut up and be quiet and that their feeling are invalid, that it was very refreshing to see a young girl allowed to be angry (something i think i would have benefitted from as a kid)
I also loved that! (I enjoyed both Matilda's movies). I'm glad they made Matilda stronger, because she feels lonely to the point she recognizes the only person she can count on is herself, and that's a different and totally valid outcome of a neglected child. She also seems angrier and, even if she is smart, she translates a lot of what she hears from adults into her stories and views of the world, almost like rather than Matilda "being" mature/an adult, she is just mimicking them in order to survived this world. Also, the fact that her powers are more related to rage and being neglected, to the point they only show up when she is in distress, and not when she is having fun.
having Matilda be more courageous and expressive is a great contrast to Miss Honey’s character, which is why I like Matilda’s personality in this movie more. In comparison to Miss Honey who sat back and took all of her abuse and trauma and never spoke up, Matilda fights back and she doesn’t let things go. It’s who Miss Honey wished she would have been. I do think their relationship could’ve been fleshed out a bit more in this movie but that contrast actually builds a really good foundation.
Except she was clearly meant to be perfect. A better character arc would’ve shown her realise why she wasn’t perfect as you said. But they never mentioned it
I saw the Broadway show and there were a lot of songs but it made up for things with the special effects and most of the story was told in song or silence for a dance number (that was amazing) so singing just felt like the norm. Also for the Amanda part, they had a little girl “flying” around the room and she passed in front of me which was pretty cool 😄 The circus scene was the best thing I’ve ever seen!!!! I cried as an 8 year old
5:20 It's seems like Matilda isn't the only person with super powers in this movie, because I don't know about you but if was thrown like 15 miles away I would NOT survive.
As someone who does have nostalgia for the old Matilda movie, i was quite impressed with the musical. The tone of the musical is more true to the book than the 96 movie was. Matilda in the movie is very much a Mary-Sue, while in the musical, she and the other children are more cheeky and brazen. Also, the role of Miss Honey in the musical was very well acted because you can see clearly the effects of the abuse she endured as a child as opposed to the mary-sueish miss Honey in the movie. I very much enjoyed the Miss Trunchbull in the movie, but her antics were very cartoonish, whereas in the musical she's more terrifying while at the same tome having those Dahl-esque silly moments.
honestly I just said that not to be judged, but ima get this out of the way, the original matilda had buildup, though having traits of a mary-sue, the new musical made her fit that mary-sue role better
I don't think calling Matilda a "Mary sue" is accurate. Her personality is definitely watered down in the beginning, but honestly that's not uncommon in children who have been abused and neglected. As she starts getting a handle on her powers, her personality starts to come through more and you see she's kind of sarcastic and even borders on arrogant at points. And the revenge she takes gets pretty messed up. Even as a kid I thought gluing her father's hat to his head was intense. And I think both versions of Trunch got a bit campy and OTT at times, though the dynamic in the original between her and Miss Honey always seemed more sinister to me than any interactions Trunch had with the kids.
I thought Matilda asked Ms Honey where she'd gotten her _scar_ and I was subsequently so confused when she responded with, "My mother gave it to my father before he died" 😶
![ลองสุ่มไอโฟน 990 โกงมั้ย? [ โกงมั้ยครับ ep.101 ] | DOM](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/bfsWe0j492k/mqdefault.jpg)
i feel like the weak point of the musical is the relationship between Matilda and Miss Honey, which is one of the most important parts os the original movie. Here, when Miss Honey adopts Matilda i was like "why? they barely know each other", but in the original movie it makes a lot of sense because the script makes a priority to sell to the audience that they had a real connection from the beggining.
And how like Matilda basically had psychic powers about miss honeys backstop without knowing miss honey at all
PLOT TWIST: In the original Miss Honey just wanted to abuse Matilda's powers which is why she adopted her
Yeah, I noticed that as well
Yeah, they cut too much from Miss Honey. I would’ve kept at least one part of Pathetic
this. they barely showed ms honey being a mother figure to matilda and matilda was too busy being unlikeable and rebellious to be portrayed to need good parents
The thing about Matilda punishing her dad in the movie, and the book, I think, is that he said "When a person is bad, that person deserves to be punished." So, Matilda concluded that since her parents are people, and they were bad, then by her dad's own logic, he deserved to be punished.
you seriously roald dahl would write such an inarticulate line? i’m sorry but that line has always felt so stupid to me!
@@antonbradbury well yes it makes sense that it would sound stupid to a young adult or fully matured adult but to children its perfectly logical
@lord anton I'm not sure. I haven't read the book myself, but I thought I had heard that the line was in the book, but I could be mistaken.
I have read it a bunch of times and I can confirm the line is there also I think that in old books there is a bad person and he/she gets punished at the end so she probably got the idea from the books
I'm 21 and that sounds perfectly logical to me
I feel taking away her brother in the new film makes her seem just angry at her parents but in the first film you could see how she felt like she didn't belong with her family as a whole
This was made completely separate to the 1996 movie? Its based entirely off the musical which is made exclusively off of the book
@@LavenderPi the brother is in the book
@@klenstdp1737 he wasn’t in the musical
@ツLavenderPi
Yes, but as someone that has read the book and seen the first movie, it comes off as odd when people say "The musical that is based off of the book" as defense. Especially at points where it differs from the book. Just say "oh it is based on the musical" without the book part. People constantly adding the book part is just... weird. It is okay that a musical is different. Just if people did not read the book, but have seen the musical just don't use the "book". It is already funny we can watch it on tv while the books roast watching tv
Yeah, I haven't seen the new adaptation but seeing how they treated each child was a big part of understanding the family dynamic. The favoritism shows that they don't like Matilda because she's different from them (and arguably because she's a girl), but without the brother they're just abusive for the sake of being abusive.
For the cake scene, in the live musical they can’t have an actor eat a gigantic cake on stage so they have to have a distracting fast pace song so they can have the cake and by the end of the song the cake is gone. They probably just wanted to keep that aspect in it.
why not, i would gladly sit there and watch someone eat a cake for 2 hours in silence
oh my gosh I just was that kid who ate the cake in the musical I did for my school and what happened was I did eat like half the cake but everyone was dancing around me so then I slid the cake into the desk and then showed the empty platter. It was fun, but very stressful!!
The stage gimick for that is so cool as well.
I would gladly eat the entire thing
Yea but that doesn't work in movie format. As Alex said, too many songs are blasted at you too quickly, it really takes away from moments meant to be impactful and the story as a whole.
I love how in the original, pivotal scenes like being thrown by your pigtails, or being yelled at by your dad, the camera mirrors Matilda’s eye level, really resonating with the young audience and making sure you FEEL that scene on a different level. It does more than just show parents this is how your kid feels, it FORCES you to feel it.
300th like
Yeah the original is much better. I watched it when I was 8 for the first time and it was sort of scary but in a fun way.
800th like
Agreed, I always thought the original went hard and I've watched it so many times whenever it's come on TV. So when this new one came out, I was like "why would you try to improve on perfection-?"
@whiterabbit11177 Sounds like the time a town told everyone the dangers of Dihydrogen Monoxide
It's water
H20
1996 Matilda is an angel child that gets into a bit of mischief but only wants what's best for her favourite teacher.
2022 Matilda will gladly commit arson if you piss her off.
Seriously that made me so mad. I hate how the new one makes her parents less neglectful, we never see them watching Tv and we never see her reading.
2022 matilda screams at miss trunchbull. If the 1996 matilda did that, she would’ve been murdered by miss trunchbull. 2022 matilda never even gets sent to the chokey.
Y’all do realize that they’re two different versions right? Not every aspect is gonna be the same.
@@dakingbey'm afraid it's a losing battle at this point. People are gonna keep comparing it to the 1996 film. I do love that movie but boy I wish stage musicals weren't always shafted. Well the good news is this comment section is one of the worst while either channels actually talk about the musical without comparing so people actually learn about it.
@@dakingbey I know that!! one's American and the other is clearly raised british :)
One of my favorite scenes in the original film is when her mom is about to sign the adoption papers she sympathetically admits she wish she could've bonded with her daughter. Like, even the horrible parents have dimension to them. Her saying those lines legitimately pull at my heart.
Same. Not justifying their actions, but they just didn't understand her, didn't know how to relate to her
They kind of do it with the dad in the new one. Still though I do like the older one better.
Danny also narrates 'so Matilda's parents did the one decent thing they had ever done for their daughter' or something at that part too, that line gets me
Guess what? In the book she doesn't even tell Matilda all that in the adoption scene, the only one who actually even ways goodbye is Matilda's brother 🤭🤭
@Jasmine N. i had to read the book multiple times for school so I still have most of it in my memory in detail
Fun fact:there's a scene in both movies. They're missing a scene from the book, which is the parrot prank where matilda borrows her friends talking pet parrot where she pretends there's a ghost in the house to scare her parents
Also, how come Michal (matildas brother) isn't in the new musical movie.
@@judayers8776he never existed in the book the first film put him in for some reason
wdym he exist in teh book too?@@Flxral.rxsesxo
@@CompSomAnichi does he!?!? Oop I haven't read it for 7 years
Lol XD To be fair I can see why you forgot him. He's never gets any lines if I remember coz it' sjust the dad talking to him/refering to him. Like literally Matilda does not interact with him in the book at all.@@Flxral.rxsesxo
I have no nostalgia for the original movie because I didn't watch when I was young, but I have such a soft spot for it after hearing how Danny Devito and Rhea Perlman were like second parents to Mara Wilson when her mom died.
That’s nice that they did that
I know! It's so sweet.
I was scared of the original movie because of mrs trunchball so I barely watch it, now its just funny
I was going to say something similar to this about them. mara Wilson said that Danny was very sweet nice to her when they weren't filming. she said that he even got everyone to dance with her when she was filming the scene where she's dancing to the song while using her powers because she was scared of dancing by herself
I have nostalgia for this movie and I love knowing now that they were so kind to her.
5:56 No, "When I Grow Up" is not just about "kids wanting to eat candy". It's about children who are having a terrible childhood dreaming of being free and happy. The idea that someday they'll be strong enough to protect themselves and others and smart enough to find a way out of problems they're facing.
that song on the original album makes me cry, especially when ms honey joins in with “when I grow up, I will be strong enough to fight the creatures that you have to fight beneath the bed each night to be a grown up”
Thank you. I had so much to say about his comment but you worded it perfectly.
“When I grow up, I will be strong enough to carry all the heavy things you have to haul around with you to be a grown up” is another one of the lines that is so poignantly laced with double meaning. When I Grow Up is a very deep and, at times, sad song about the part of ourselves we are forced to give up (through trauma or even just the simple everyday responsibilities of life as an adult) as we grow up. It’s actually quite foundational to the entire Matilda story (and was the first song Minchin wrote for the musical). It is definitely not just about kids eating candy.
It was a joke :) and he knows and comes to it later.
But as I know very much what you are talking about, I understand why it was important to you to point it out so clearly.
Glad to be grown up and safe.
Same, I was in this musical (a school musical) and I was Matilda when I grow up is NOT about just wanting to eat candy.💀👁👄👁🧌🧌🧌🧌🧌🧌
I think its worth noting that the director (who directed both the stage and movie musical), didn't watch the original movie so its purely based off the book. Anything choice made that is different/the same in the two movies is because they're based off the same book, but the musical is not based off the movie.
@Don't Read Profile Photo bot
just here so the only reply isn’t a bot
Was about to comment the same thing, I went into this movie with the idea that it’s completely separate from the og movie, but that the og movie and the play just have the same source material
Yeah he literally says that in the first few minutes of the reaction. He knows this is based off of the book. He is just comparing the two movies
@@david-jonballinger6638 he said its based on the stage version which is based on the og film which is based on the book
“Because everyone thinks I hate everything, which to be fair is true.”
MOST RELATABLE THING EVER OML
If anyone thinks that having a Black Ms Honey with horrible makeup was a GOOD idea, they're part of the problem!
@@Mike-es2yg tbh that is the least of this movie's problems.
@theascendunt9960 nah, it's a HUGE problem. Just takes you out of the movie completely. She's not even pretty ffs
@@Mike-es2yg did she need to be pretty… like was that a big part of the original character..?
@@PrincessDini yes.
Okay but my favorite line from the original movie doesn’t get recognized enough. When Amanda is spelling difficulty and trunchbull’s response is “Why are all of these women married??”
i think that was in to book too, haven't read it in a while
YESSS! that line cracks me up every time! rewatched the movie again after watching the musical and it still made me laugh.
YES THANK YOU that’s literally my favorite line in the movie i was SO upset it wasn’t in the new one
Me and my sisters always quote that randomly even after years of not watching it lmao
@@han7oee "My sisters and I." Not "me and my sisters." To know whether to use "me" or "I," remove the other party/ies from the sentence. You wouldn't say "me always quote that regularly." Not hating on you, just trying to help you out. I see people make that error all the time.
I think part of the reason for casting a (slightly) older actress as matilda is that we've learned in recent years how harmful the industry is to child actors, especially really young ones. out of the ones you mentioned, so many of them have spoken about how damaging those experiences were to go through at such a young age, and you can see how it affected their lives even years after it was over (like macaulay culkin, lindsay lohan, etc.) Even Mara Wilson herself has talked about how hard it was on her. And in a musical adaptation where you need to be a true triple threat to sing and dance as well as starring... I wouldn't wish that pressure on any 5 year old. So I'm not mad at them casting a slightly older actress if it means she was emotionally better prepared to handle all of that.
100% agree.
Plus could you imagine the singing quality if they had a five year old as Matilda?
The Olsen twins
Although I do love that the 1996 movie is the exception to that rule, in that DeVito really, really helped Mara Wilson
Does it also have anything to do with UK child labor laws?
I think Alex was referring to how the movie did not make it clear what Matilda's age was supposed to be. In the original, she explicitly states that she is 6 and a half. I don't know if they did that with this one. It's not about the actress herself.
I don't think you understood "when I grow up" the whole point is that miss honey is grown up but still can't fight the demons that she needs to. It's a beautiful metaphor for how some people have dreams and some people just dream about escaping a hellish childhood
Damnit. Normally I spot those types of messages right away. I really think you’re on the money here. Kudos.
Yeah, the first time I heard 'When I grow up', years ago, I didn't consider it to be that relevant to the plot but it soon became one of my favourite songs in the show (if not my fave) as it's so moving with Miss Honey and the kids imagining a day when they'll be free from Miss Trunchbull and can once again be happy and dare to have dreams. It seems simplistic but has a lot of depth and meaning about how childhood isn't always a happy, carefree time and while some kids are forced to grow up too quickly, adults are still growing up and learning too.
This was the first Matilda song I heard from a Tony Awards performance. And at the time, I think the message of the song was delivered well even without context.
When the song is sang by children, there's a bittersweet whimsy to it, because we as adults know that being "grown up" isn't as magical and free as they think it's gonna be.
In the stage choreography, we actually see the kids playing around a set of swings. They would ride and stand on them, they would also twist and spin its strings as they slide across the floor.
But then the music comes to a halt, the swings stay perfectly still... and an adult walks in singing the same words and sits on of the swings. All of a sudden the context of the lyrics change. And all that's left was the sad reality of being grown up.
Again, at the time I didn't know what Matilda is. But this one song made it clear what its all about and I immediately wanted more of it.
To add, another point is that nobody ever has things as figured out as they'd like. The world is a scary, overwhelming place and while kids might think being an adult is about having freedom to do the things adults don't allow them as kids to do, it's much more than that. The idea that adults have things under control is a foregone conclusion to these kids, they're not worried about being mature or responsible, they just want to have fun. Meanwhile, we see that Ms. Honey, an outwardly responsible woman with a career, is still deeply insecure and feels immature herself because her circumstances inhibit her growth. It's heartbreaking because the woman these kids look up to is just barely holding it together. It paints a very bleak picture, as if to say "it never gets better". Obviously the events of the movie show otherwise, with the abused getting a happy ending but in this moment during the "When I Grow Up" number, it's so incredibly sad.
To be fair, stage musicals (upon which this is based, not the 90s movie) can have little to no dialogue. It is a series of songs sometimes vaguely connected by a few spoke sentences to get from one song to another. It’s why you can buy the original cast recordings of most Broadway stage musicals and know the whole story just from the songs. Stage Musicals are about the the songs. And in honor of it’s stage musical origins, it would make sense that the performances are a bit larger then life.
The larger than life performance is fine, but the pacing isn't. The pacing in a stage musical is fundamentally different from a movie format for many reasons. It's faster and mostly songs, which just doesn't work in a movie. As Alex said, everything comes at you too quickly for impactful moments to actually feel impactful. Also, a lot of the story is lost. It's like adapting a movie into a film, you have to cut and include things carefully. It just feels hollow here.
@@UnfazedPhoenix as a person who’s watched way too many musicals (both movie and stage ), I fundamentally disagree that movies can’t have the same percentage of songs as stage shows, I feel the main audience that watched this has probably only ever seen Disney musicals (which in the renaissance era often only had 4-5 songs) and not use to the concentration of songs in actual broadway musicals
@@UnfazedPhoenix an example of this would be my favorite movie musical of all time, In the Heights. It spends a very similar amount of time on songs and it never had any pacing issues from me (nor the critics or audience on rotten tomatoes who both gave it a 94% which is wildly high for both scores to agree on, if you take any stock in such scores).
My point it, the movie might have suffered from pacing issues, but it was NOT due to the number of songs (corrolation, not causation).
One of the things I love about the original film is how much Matilda still loves her family, even when her dad is a crook and cops come after her dad, Matilda still go out of her way to protect her father and family
I didn’t really see that as love so much as Matilda knowing that although her parents neglect her she has a lot of freedom, so if her dad was caught, her freedom would be compromised.
In the musical stage production it ends with Matilda protecting her family from the Mafia by talking them down in Russian. It's a really funny scene and I loved it a lot.
There is a dialogue that kinda goes
"your father has been very rude and very very stupid. He has also been rude to you. When I am done with him he will still be stupid but maybe not as rude, would you like that?"
And Matilda is just like "That is a very tempting offer, but he is still my father."
The Miracle song in the beginning is also a lot more of a theme in the stage production, first in the first song, then a few times by miss honey (most of her songs and ark got cut to kinda change the general meaning of the movie from overcoming trauma to finding family, which is a bit more kid friendly but sad cause that ark was my favourite) and then lastly by the mafia boss when he lets the family go because as rude and stupid the family is, they still managed to put some good in the world and he doesn't wanna kill the family in front of her when she is more in favour of rehabilitation.
@@tiahnarodriguez3809 true but also its little details, like when her mom asks her how was school she immediately wants to share it with her, and the big hug he gives her dad when she gets to go to school the next day
@@cooky2991 oh wow thats dark, i never saw the play, thats interesting
@@bradcha5413t's really good. I wish Alex had talked more about that difference between the stage and the Netflix film instead of comparing it to the 1996 film 😅
Fun Facts? :
-I did Matilda Jr Musical this summer and then the adaptation came out
-The Adaptation actually didn't include all the songs from the original so there are a fewer songs in the movie than the actual stage production
Rip Loud,,, that song was my favorite 😭
@@laurencarlson1235 I was hoping they would include that song 🥲
i remember doing a matilda play in middle school. our theater teacher had this weird tactic of giving us 2 songs at a time and at some point getting new songs stoped being fun and just killed me a little
@@Princessitaandreita I’ve done three productions of Matilda, and my first role was Mrs. Wormwood so I am DEFINITELY a little partial when I say she is the best character and deserved more in this adaptation 😂
Im really mad they didn't include "This little girl", Ms.Honeys song, as is gives her character a lot of depth.
Honestly I was more invested in the story Matilda was making up than the actual movie
Same tbh
@Don't Read Profile Photo I just got rickrolled by a guitar
@Melissa🍳
I love ur pfp 🥺
saaaame
Ghost dad!
12:30 When I was a kid, I would always fast forward this scene because it scared the hell out of me and I could never explain why.
Probably all the laughter
Imo the thing on the tv looked like brain rot but I’d never skip it
Real
I think one of the biggest problems I had with this film is the relationship between Matilda and Ms. Honey. Instead of building their relationship they just focus on songs and the circus story. The cottage scene feels really out of place because Ms. Honey and Matilda barely know eachother. In this movie, even though it's not in the book, I feel like Ms. Phelps should've adopted her instead, because they were much more compatible. And at the beginning of the movie you see them already acting like bestfriends. The film did this dumb "oh she accidently knows her life story and this wasn't in the book" thing instead of focusing on the MAIN CHARACTERS relationships!
Idk that just made me kind of upset I'd still rate this movie like a 7/10
@Pierre LillyI understand that, but I just don't really think the Ms. Honey/circus story was altogether necessary. I feel the ending would've felt more natural if Matilda and Honey had an actual bond to speak of besides knowing her life story (like the book) I'm saying I wish they had a connection like Mrs. Phelps did with Matilda, but that's really just my personal opinion, no disrespect or anything.
@Pierre Lilly true, that was a part of their relationship, but you could see Mrs. Phelps wanted to make sure she was okay at home and cared about Matilda
@Pierre Lilly Mrs. Phelps was the one trying to figure out if Matilda's home life was okay, though. She knew something was up, but Matilda wouldn't tell her. She felt much more like a responsible adult than Ms. Honey in this story and a much more capable guardian than a teacher who talks to Matilda about her home life one time.
Yeah, I really didn't like the whole acrobat storyline. It was really over the top, and when it was revealed that it was Miss Honey's actual backstory, which Matilda magically knew, I was rolling my eyes with how cliche and lazy it was. They could've just spent that screentime building Miss Honey and Matilda's friendship. Alternatively, if they wanted to tell the acrobat story, they could've made it a fantastical story that ends up echoing Miss Honey's backstory, which could be more serious and realistic. The story then allows Matilda to understand Miss Honey's backstory when she tells her because she can draw parallels. Or better yet maybe Matilda could be making up the story and telling the librarian as Miss Honey reveals bits of her past, and it's Matilda's way of processing difficult subjects as a child.
@@TheTardisDreamer 100% agree. My thoughts exactly
The kids spelling “Difficulty” on the original movie lives priceless on my mind. Ms. Trunchbull’s “Why are all these women married”
🤧😹
mrs D mrs I mrs FFI mrs C mrs U mrs LTY
I know right? The First movie was Very well thought on every scene while this one... Well... It's more of a expextacle without meaning. And representation.
Probably why people see 'diversity' as bad now, because of the lack of actual Deepness on characters and plot
That part was great 🤣
@@filmfangirls9163 Morbius lacked depth and coherence as well, and those were mostly white guys. Does that mean white guys make movies awful by association?
@@ianesgrecia8568 I don't think people see diversity as bad but when you single out a certain race , tell people to watch it purely on it , and focus them down even if they are not even part of the main cast it gets a bit ... dodgy to say the least since most of they time they aren't even held equal but above the others
its the same with all these "female empowerment" movies , empowerment does require each gender to be held on equal grounds and not just one made slapstick and the other the only competent ones. That's sexist not empowerment which a lot of these "female empowerment" shows/movies don't seem to get
I personally prefer the actual stage version because of how creative the choreography and stage gimmicks are (I love the choice of casting all the older kids as actual adults)
I saw the play on stage a good few years back. I remember enjoying it a lot. I feel like it stayed truer to the book than the Netflix adaptation. Maybe I’m just misremembering tho, it’s been awhile.
I love the aesthetics of the Netflix adaptation, however I agree that there was so much missing with the storyline probably because I noticed that they were missing a lot from the broadway musical it was based on which was slightly sad however I completely understand why they didn’t put it all in because it would be a much longer movie resulting in a higher budget and less chance of profiting, but if we had those missing scenes it would probably have a different rating.
The swing scene on the stage was amazing. And the dance during Revolting Children. But I do love what they did with this film!
would love to know where i can watch it. I can only listen to it sadly
yes! the choreography is amazing
i felt like the pig tail throwing scene made sense, because it shows her desire to be right about everything, it reminds me of a teacher I once knew
I have seen Matilda on broadway and I have to say the way the music flows, the choreography, and the sets are amazing. The when I grow up song in that is beautifully done. So impressed by the talents of children in a Broadway production like that.
It's a circus
I loved the choreography for the Broadway production of "When I Grow Up" with the swings. I wish the movie did something similar. I appreciate that they were trying to take advantage of the movie medium by making everything bigger, and being able to do things that just couldn't be done on stage, but I feel like some of the charm from the stage production was lost along the way.
I saw it live when I was a kid. It’s amazing!
@@happychaosofthenorth as someone who played bruce (not on Broadway lmao) the swings were pretty damn cool. I think when i grow up feels like a waste of time in the movie because it’s more to ease the audience back into the show after intermission. Movies just don’t work like that. There are many other examples and thats why I believe movie musicals shouldn’t be made. Filmings of the original musical work because it’s just the musical with extra cinematography. Some things can be lost (like a assume the telly song was cut for the movie) but it is overall good. Movies should be made with the plan to male them musical, taking a whole new original angle. Or, just don’t make it a musical. Problem solved.
Yea also I kinda wished he compared it more the the bway musical bc that’s what THIS movie is based off of instead of like the og movie
I loved the original Matilda movie, I watched it over and over as a kid. That soundtrack and Danny Devito narrating is just so comforting lyrics nostalgic to me.
I agree that the low camera angles really did make it feel like the movie was shot from a child's perspective. The scene where all the kids are playing at lunch and find a salamander is just pure distilled childhood right there.
Amen! David Newman's score for that film was incredible. I still listen to it! As for Danny DeVito, even as such an unlikeable character, I still couldn't hate him (even as a small child watching the film, haha).
"iTs A sNaKe!1!!11!!1"
Um it's actually a noot
☝🤓
That version of "The TRUNCH" is Untrunchable
Honestly, even if you think the original movie was better or not, the point of the new one isn’t to remake the one that people hold so dearly to their hearts, it is a movie remake of the musical, Matilda. This allows fans of the musical to see a representation of it on screen and I believe that this movie achieved that very well as the songs have amazing choreography, singing and the overall look of the movie is really cool.
Well said!!
But that's the thing. I'm sure that people have very high standards for anyone that re-creates Matilda, especially because of how good and fun it was-- and how the story really stuck out. You can make musicals, but you can't just sing and dance all the time. You can't just leave the plot and make it wave goodbye?
I think that's why people are often a bit harsh on it.. but if you don't compare it to the first Matilda-- it's actually cool I guess.
@@gooseinferior for musical theater fans the story wasn't waved goodbye and was found in the music. Musicals have singing and dancing to tell the story. For us who love the musical, and for me who loved the 1996 film, the musical did a great job with a different retelling of the story. I'm afraid musical theater is shafted many many times.
They changed up the characters completely. While it is an “adaptation”, it doesn’t feel like Matilda per se. it is a nice musical.. but for me it isn’t a very good version of Matilda. But oh well- people have their opinions and you are a people. So, I’ll leave this comment be.
I watched the musical when I was very young, and honestly I don't think it needed a movie adaptation.
The US movie of Matilda was based on the book. The English Stage Production was also based on the book (NOT the US movie). The Netflix Musical is based on the Stage Production. Different interpretations of the same source material. I like them both.
I think actually this film is a fantastic middle point between the movie and the stage version. A lot of the 'new' stuff you've mentioned is a huge part of the stage production, and considering how different the two are, i think this adaptation does a fantastic job of incorporating elements of both.
Some songs from the stage version got cut, and others got moved about or re-worked so that they are in slightly different contexts than they originally were, so that might be why some of them feel a bit jarring, but i heavily recommend going and watching the stage version or finding some clips of it online - you'd have a new appreciation for the choices made in the movie!
Yep i think it’s important to moreso judge it based on that than an (imo) irrelevant version
100% i think a lot of the judgements are misguided considering that the new film is based on the stage play (and if you look into the making of the stage play they deliberately avoided re watching the original film so that it felt like a separate entity)
Yeah. It's tricky, because obviously it's sold as a film, and thus it's obviously gonna be compared to the older one and picked apart like this, but really, because it's an almost exact repeat of the musical (aside from some cuts for time), it's more like a spectacle for people that haven't seen the stage musical/want an alternative for it.
"Musicals directly adapted to film" like Les Mis, In the Heights or The Producers have very different goals and intentions for the audience than "film musicals" like most Disney stuff (and even further removed from normal films like the original Matilda), and this means they usually have a weird feeling flow and writing compared to them.
The one thing I think the original did better was the goodbye between her and her dad and family. The original dad was scummy and abrasive but it felt like although he didnt get his daughter he did want her to be a part of the family or at least be 'normal' like them. So when they went their separate ways, you could at least get the feeling that he does love her and accepts that while he doesn't understand her, she deserved to be with those who do.
The new one was straight up a jerk through & through, who made it clear he didnt enjoy having her around which made me wonder why he and his wife even kept her instead of putting her up for adoption or something, the ending goodbyes between them is a bit more jarring because he suddenly shows affection (what ever that was) where up to that point, there really was none.
Edit: also, the og one is Danny DeVito. Fight me. >:(
Danny devito is the greatest no one is going to fight u on that my dude.
@@mymyhi9921 My thoughts exactly!
It's better in the stage show. Matilda actually saves her family from the Mafia. Her father actually gains some respect for her, and when after having that moment with her his hat comes off on its own, which I much prefer than the movie where we see Matilda release the glue.
IKR
Completely agreed. I know this one is probably closer to the book, but the Mara Wilson one is just too iconic to beat
Let us just take a minute to appreciate Amanda's scream as she is thrown by her pigtails.
edit: MHM BUT WHY DID THIS COMMENT GET SO MANY LIKES?
One of the funniest scenes in kids movies😂 (or "family friendly" movies before anyone screams at me about it not just being for kids)
aaaa
.
a
.
.
*gets thrown*
.
*quietly makes firework sounds while being 50 feet in the air*
@Skalman LOL
I’m sorry pigtails girl should have died from that throw.
That scene was hilarious
I agree, in this rendition of Matilda, the story was too focused on the subplot about Miss Honey's backstory. You hardly even get to see Matilda develop her powers and use them. She uses them twice in this movie and then that was it. Also, this Matilda is giving me The Orphan vibes. 😂
The world does not revolve around magic, I think that demonstrating this twice was more than enough, the old movie could think rationally.
I find it really weird. They only have one song about Matilda’s story in the original musical, and it’s about miss honey’s dad finding out miss trunchbull abused her or something? It just confuses me.
@@stevendalloesingh1214 But the subplot also has mystical elements because Matilda sees, much like a premonition or a vision, Miss Honey's backstory. So the whole movie revolves around magic. I'd much rather the movie focused on Matilda and not Miss Honey.
Ik I'm late lol but yeah. Like the whole subplot of Matilda's "story" is actually kinda heartbreaking when you realise its based around her ideal vision of a family taken away from her. But then it's like "oop never mind Miss. Honey was the main character all along".
Yea they really didn't balance this well. It's like fan service to people who like the musical but it doesn't work in movie format.
What hits home for me with Mathilda, is that it's a real-world response to fairytales. There is this little girl, and she is abused by her parents, and a horrible headmaster, but she gets a fairy Godmother who is kind, and loving, and helps her grow. But instead of how it is in the fairytales, Ms. Honey isn't a magical, all-powerful Glinda. She's a person with her own struggles, and suffers the same abuse that Mathilda is suffering, despite being grown up. And so the audience learns that even grown-ups don't have all the answers, and that even kids can be the hero, the all-powerful magical being. And that's the draw. The CHILD is finding the bravery to help the ADULT get free from the abuse she hasn't been able to escape by herself.
Suffice it to say, I don't think it's a concept that lends itself to being explored in musical form, and I'll probably not be watching the new movie.
You probably don't care, but the way they adapt a scene between Matilda making up her own story and retelling Honey's is heartbreaking and beautiful.
You should watch the stage version instead. There were many scenes that were left out of the new movie that help it make more sense.
Agreed.
Matilda*
You have to remember this was primarily made for a British audience where practically everybody knows the story of Matilda like the back of their hand.
Even the children this was supposedly made for? No
@@MaxOakland Roald Dahl books were THE books to read for children in the 70s, 80s and 90s in the UK. Ask anyone who went to school during that time and they'll tell you their favourite books from that time. Mine are the BFG, The Witches, James and the Giant Peach, The Twits, Boy and Going Solo. Matilda was also good. I literally bought another Roald Dahl compilation of short stories a month ago to please my inner child's need for fantasy. So, when the original films were made, they were based on the books - that we all had either read, or read after watching the film. Roald Dahl, amazing author.
@@MaxOakland yes lmao, it is taught in year 1 to all children as part of the start of their English lessons
@Chillin_Aspect Not true. I used to watch the hell out of that movie cuz I loved and still love it so much. So do many other people.
@@MaxOaklandI knew about Matilda since I was five....and then read it at 8 years old. She's very well known to children.
Matilda in the musical used reading as an escape from her traumatizing life, which makes the line “reading is like a holiday in my head” make a lot more sense. Also, the creator showed more to the fact that Matilda was traumatized when she sang a song about disassociating while getting yelled at by miss Trenchbull. Traumatized people, like Matilda, sometimes will unwilling disassociate when something bad is happening to them, because it's your brain's way of protecting you from experiencing another traumatizing event. So I think the creator wanted us to know her love for books was because she was trying to escape reality.
Yes! and I think THAT is what this movie-musical did better than the 1996 movie (and perhaps the book but, its been a while since I've read it). I greatly appreciated how they portrayed her disassociating, because I did the EXACT same thing. It made me feel that connection to Matilda that the book and the 1996 movie did. It happens again when her father yells at her and she makes up a story where a father is rescuing her from the abuse and hurt being done to her. I did the exact same thing when I was younger.. watching that scene hurt. The connection with this character ended there though. Over all, I still think the 1996 movie told the full story better. Like the story in this movie-musical was too focused on Ms. Honey and HER growth as a character; all the character development Matilda got in the books and 1996 movie was given to miss Honey in this musical. Yes we see more of Matilda's dissociation and its shown very accurately, but the rest of her character isn't given the same kind of treatment. The story is supposed to be about Matilda.
100% I agree with you!!!
The creator? Do you mean Tim Minchin?
Please, please watch the musical.
I mean the original musical with Lauren Ward, over 110K views. Bootleg on YT.
Quite frankly... this video thinks the musical missed the point of Matilda, and i don't get it. Quiet is masterpiece characterizing her. Did he understood the lyrics at all?
Personally I interpreted the revolting song as the children not being afraid to misbehave anymore and finally being allowed to be kids
As a person who’s watched the musical irl. I can definitely say that most of the stuff in this musical movie is just a part of the musical 😭😭 including the whole miss honey backstory thing
OK... And?
@@VicenteTorresAliasVitswow so edgy 😱
@@Eric123_lol yes very edgy but still, I want to know, why is the movie adaptation of a musical, being a musical and using the plot of the musical because it is a adaptation a bad thing
@@scratchpaper345 what?
Exactly
I commented this elsewhere but what I loved about Matilda was how, at its heart, it’s about recognizing abusive and neglectful adults. It is whimsical and otherworldly when the parents are mean, or the director is crazy. When it’s only Matilda and miss honey, it is cute and charming, because it is the right place for Matilda to be. Idk the musical lost the “found family” aspect of the story, and how one shouldn’t tolerate abuse, even when it comes from your own parents
"and how one shouldn’t tolerate abuse, even when it comes from your own parents"
did you watch the musical??? There's a massive part of the plot that deals with ms honey accepting matilda s family, and not tolerating abuse from Trunchbull as Matilda learns to do the same.
I mean she sleeps in a dirty attic(seriously why are people overlooking that).... And poor Ms Honey was brutally abused and thrown in a basement. There are many talks of abuse in this.
It’s not a remake, it’s a different adaptation of a stage play of a book! Matilda was my first book I bought myself at 11, it’s not changing anything that’s gone before.
Thank you 🤣 it wasn't bothering me at first but now it's getting silly that people are not researching the musical.
If I were to be honest, I love the part in PE where Matilda started singing (another song 🙃) about how everyone is yelling and how everything is loud and her rage grows but then it’s quiet, because I relate with it so much, my parents fought a lot and it was mostly because of me, I never knew that a childrens musical remake would make me cry.
This is the song that Tim is most proud of writing.
Same
As someone who’s seen the musical I do think it’s funny you thought there were to many songs and no character arc for matilda because many of the songs that were cut were the songs that completed how it’s actually mis honey’s character that grows over the story. The only songs in that outline they left in were the hammer, my house, and when I grow up, since pathetic and loud got cut.
I loved pathetic and this little girl because they actually develop Miss Honey as a character and make her more of a character than a plot device. Loud is also pretty good because it shows the audience what her parents are like and actually contains quite a few truths about life.
And Telly got cut too ☹️
"There's no plot in this musical" = "my one brain cell gets overwhelmed when the lyrics and character emotions are plot"
The original play was longer, so there was obviously more time for the story to take place. All this stuff was in the original play, and there is only one new song right at the end of the film. You think there are too many songs? They cut out a few!!!
(Btw crying over the loss of Michael and 'Telly')
@DoNotreadmyprofilephoto nice cover 👍
But movie musicals always have fewer songs, also stage musicals can go up to 3 hours long.
Also loud would have been amazing!
…and “Loud” and like-all the characterization for Mr. and Mrs. Wormwood!
I know Michael Wormwood didn't play a big role in the Story, but I can't help but feel bad for him for getting cut.
While Mara Wilson will always be Matilda to me, Alisha Weir did a phenomenal job, given how demanding the role is, and how Matilda is in almost every scene. Also, she's Irish in real life, and dons a convincing British accent.
*convincing English accent* northern Irish are British too
WHY DO I SEE YOU EVERYWHERE
@@pippi2285 no they aren’t. They’re part of the UK (the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland)
@@NoName-ls6jn Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Ireland itself is not part of the UK
@@Hitchhatchherbert FR I SWEAR THIS PERSON HAS COMMENTED ON EVERY VIDEO ON TH-cam
The original Ms. Trunchbull literally was played by the perfect actress. There is nobody that could have performed that role better than she did!
The new one is very flashy (which makes sense for Broadway) but that makes it feel like a fever dream of a movie. The first one felt like it had more depth and things were paced out and shown better for a movie/book adaptation. They are two different mediums though, I just prefer the earlier one.
The new one is more trying to capture the extravaganzaness of a broadway musical
Because That’s your problem You guys really need to stop putting sequels/remakes/reboots/adaptations in the shadow of the originals and just let them have their own independent successes and be treated as something completely separate it’s a nasty habit that needs to be stopped
@@madnessarcade7447 this is just the wrong attitude to have. With this attitude all we’ll get in Hollywood is remakes. All remakes should be compared to the original because they share the same story. Comparing remakes to the original is like comparing older sibling to younger sibling.
@@madnessarcade7447 nobody is trying to put them in the shadows but the whole point is to improve/ bring a new perspective or expand upon the story . If the new one doesn't improve or add anything to the story then what's the point .
@@kjl4983 yea and that’s incredibly unhealthy for that younger sibling’s self esteem
The younger sibling hates it and wants to make his own mark
The thing is the new movie wasn’t actually based off the old version, it was more based off of the actual musical. I don’t think you ever mentioned that, but it really is fun to see a musical get turned into an actual movie
Edit: Sorry to start a war- but somebody DID tell me it was said in the beginning. I know that now, but it was just like the whole video was being called nonsense because of the added songs. It also changed a lot from the original broadway musical which I feel would be more accurate to compare from.
no one seems to understand this.
It's So nice to see these comments.
Literally the first minute.
@@Biostar96 he knew it was a musical and said that but through the whole dang vid it kept calling the 1996 film "the original" so he still considers it a remake.
@@filmfangirls9163 It doesn't really imply "remake," it implies that they're telling the same story and the original one came before (the original was a book, but as a film, Matilda was the og). If he said "the first film" people would still complain about the same thing. He'd have to be annoyingly specific the whole video to avoid misunderstandings. People just get hotblooded over their favorite media, it happens.
I used to hate that Shrek the Musical always got shit on because I actually prefer it to the og movie, but now I just accept my fate as the dumbass who likes a musical fanfiction. Basically, the same goes for Matilda, but the other way around. I much prefer the (first) movie over the musical because the musical is nonsense to me while the movie moved me.
I'm a sucker for people getting thrown away and finding other people who were also thrown away and adopting each other I guess.
Hats off to Danny DeVito for directing the 1996 Matilda! He did a great job!
And if I recall correctly, the child actress's mom passed away during time of filming (or once the movie came out?) And Danny DeVito took care of her
@@WYIN98 It was during filming! And her on-screen parents became like second parents to her :' )
One thing I personally loved about this version is the portrayal of Hortensia. In the original movie (which is my all-time favourite movie btw), she is kind of drab. In this movie, she is a total badass; the Grace Vanderwaal bob, a broken arm, the lollipop... I would not want to go up against her.
Agreed. She's changed a lot from the book, but she still feels more accurate to the book than she does in the 90s movie.
The song about growing up 'When I grow up' is actually a classic Matilda the Musical song so it was kinda necessary in the movie. I remember being in a musical theatre group when I was 8 and this was a song we sung cause it was popular. However some of the new songs aren't as necessary.
There's only one new song...
Yeah you couldn’t have Matilda without naughty or when I grow up😊
@@9A7S6 and they’ve cut some!
@@blake4604In my opinion, it’s fine that they cut some songs. Because this movie had so many songs anyway
@@anikayap6777 yep- one in particular I don’t think would work as well on screen as it did in stage (Telly).
The movie actually cut out a few songs that are centered and focused on Ms. Honey's development as a character which is why I believe the song "When I grow up" exists (Just because it highlights that adults are still scared of bullies themselves contrary to what children might believe). As a matter of fact, I think that the main character in the Broadway musical should be Ms. Honey since she gets more development than Matilda. I think it focused more on her ability to stand up to her own bully
Edit: just thought I should add I haven’t actually seen the musical but I have been a big fan of the track for years and it is the impression I got by just listening to the songs.
When I grow up, it was about miss honey growing up. And the kids and her still need to grow up. It shows how she still wants to grow up. If that makes sense.
Man i was pissed with these cuts, they are essential for the end to be more deep
In the stage version you do get to see Miss Honey go on more of a satisfying emotional journey- I was cast in a production of Matilda pre covid and the director had a talk with all of us at the callback about how he interpreted Miss Honey as the true lead of the show
I was so sad they cut out the song right before she goes to see Trunchbull the first time
The same for the parents too. You got to know more of Mrs Wormwood through Loud (which then made Quiet that much more impactful) and Mr Wormwood through Telly (rip Michael). Small but important songs to show just how different their daughter is from them.
The parents (especially the mom) get a lot more stage time in the Broadway musical and features vignettes of Matilda trying to teach them about books when they berate her
West End*
@@danielwells5871 it was also on Broadway for a short time
Exactly, and it almost was in this adaptation as well. Like the actress that played Matilda's mother rehearsed the musical's song Loud for months, only for them to cut it in the final version. Like, Loud is a very good song that shows her parents a lot more as people, and I think, even though would've made the adaptation longer, it was definitely needed
9:00
That musical number was made because on Stage they didn't make a kid eat all that,so the Number was fast and bright to distract you from the eating of the cake
The original Matilda was terrifyingly weird
Agreed, I still can't believe that I was allowed to watch it as a child! 🤣
Fr I prefer this version than that thing-
Fr how so?
Some of the scenes still haunt my nightmares 😅
It’s based on a Dahl book. It comes with the territory lol
I think the flipped dynamic between Matilda and Ms Honey in the musical, where Ms Honey is the one to learn a moral lesson from Matilda, is more impactful. It makes sense for a grown woman who has experienced a lifetime worth of mistreatment to learn a lesson from a child whose idealism hasn't been worn away yet. Children intuitively have very strong senses of what is and isn't fair. They often know the world's not fair, it's just that they haven't yet stopped believing that it can be.
The song, "When I Grow Up" perfectly encapsulates this. All the children dream of perfect futures, although they'll still have to "fight the creatures that you have to fight beneath the bed". As Ms Honey recites those lyrics, she's backed by Matilda, a child who has always known that life isn't fair, singing of one's responsibility to do what's right, with the former finally taking on the responsibility of a grown up as one to fight for their own fair treatment, in her case by her aunt.
Hasn't that always been the case though?
YESSSSS
@@bluebird1914 eh. I feel like in the og movie it was the opposite
I think a lot of people are setting themselves up for failure when they go into this movie with the intention of comparing it to the Danny DeVito/Mara Wilson version, because they should be viewed as entirely different entities of an original story.
The musical originally opened in London before transferring to Broadway, so I think it feels more suited to British audiences generally (i.e the jokes, direction etc). Whereas the 1996 version is much more American and it reflects that. Both adaptions take liberties and different story directions from the books and as a result create very separate pieces.
As a musical theatre fan, the musical version is an absolute masterclass. The score and lyrics are truly brilliant and they represent the innocence of youth and the harsh reality of adulthood beautifully. I think the musical also has a much more mature and darker tone, which is fitting for Roald Dahl's preference with story telling. The creator didn't take any influence from the 1996 version, which is why they're so different and should be treated as such. I know many other fans who believe that the musical version is more mature and dark compared the og movie, as there are many creative choices which strive to resonate with both young and old audiences. 'When I Grow Up' is a brilliant example of that, as it represents the innocent view of adulthood that children have, giving younger audiences a chance to feel connected and understood with the characters, while older audiences feel nostalgic and sentimental as they reflect on their own childhood and the experience they had as they became adults.
Mara Wilson's Matilda is much more light hearted and 'warm' if that makes sense. It's still a brilliant movie and still has great acclaim, I equally love both versions and I think that's how they should remain. But the two can't be compared at all, they both deserve to be viewed as standalone equals that tell the same story but in unique and different ways.
I'd very much recommend trying to listen to the musical's score more, especially with the subtitles/lyrics on as you'll truly begin to see the mastery of the storytelling. That's why there are so many songs, as the weave the story between the dialogue and action beautifully. I think watching clips or slime tutorials (bootlegs of the musical) would provide a better understanding of the show's storytelling.
👏👏👏
They can be compared, you are doing it in your comment.
@@carolinagavilan3620 educating people on the stage musical and talking about the different adaptations is not comparing them. It's giving educated information. Something Alex should have done.
Yeah this movie is pretty much completely unrelated to the original so even using that as a premise for an argument is an automatic failure.
The movie still doesn't reflect this and kinda sucked tbh
When I grow up and the quiet song made me cry the most
As a big fan of the stage musical- the reason why Matilda is telling the stories rather than sitting and reading them- is because the directors realised that watching someone on stage reading a book would not be the most visually interesting and best use of the medium of theatre. In the show Matilda goes to a physical library to see Mrs Phelps where she comes up with her story, and you know from the context that she already has a close relationship with the library and books.
haven't seen the the stage play, but making it Miss Honey's back story is dumb. Also instead of her telling the story make her sing about love for books with a dance conation, the songs in a Musical are suppose to help tell the story, In Beauty and the beast, a Musical shows Belle reading and singing her joy of reading books.
The issue isn't that it was changed from books to storytelling, it's that in the film we've lost why she connected to it in the first place
@@MrSophire I do think the Miss Honey/circus stories in the play are a bit too long and clunky but are a nice addition to the story.
@@dissapointed_spaghetti The songs Matilda's parents sing in the musical (that were cut for this film) "Loud" and "Telly", were about how they think Matilda's interest in books and reading is strange (in their view). I think the film misses that contrast between Matilda and her family, but understand that songs make the film longer.
@@sarahbourne1872 Haven't seen the play but the more I hear about it the more I don't want to see it. sorry it feels like they are making Matilda a Mary sue, but I like I said haven't seen the play
One thing really bothered me. Matilda's powers. In the book she needs to practice just to keep a bit of chalk up and she's exhausted after spilling the glass of water. I thought she was kinda overpowered in the first film but it's nothing compared with this one. She is bassicly a god, I mean really, a gigant chain monster? That would have put her in a 10 year old coma if it was in the book
Agreed! Also something not many have commented on, is at the end of the book, Matilda looses her powers. Her abilities are a manifestation of her mind not being challenged enough even when she gets into school, so when the Trunch is ousted, and miss honey adopts her, she gets the education and challenge she needs, and her powers naturally fade away.
Yes! Me and my sister watched this movie and it was so disappointing how the cup of water just immediately floated, in the original movie, the cup not even moving gave Matilda and miss honey some trust because miss honey immediately believed her, no questions asked.
Think the stage version has the right amount of powers. Both films have too much imo. Just because they can do special effects, doesn’t mean they should.
Alex literally included the clip from the 1996 movie where she's manipulating literally everything in a room at the same time. That would take so much more divided attention at once than it would take to group a bunch of chains together. The effects in the new one might have looked more impressive, but she was actually far more overpowered in the older movie if you think for even three seconds about how powers like that would have to work. Once again, nostalgia leads to a complete lack of critical thought.
I loved the book as a kid, so I was assuming it would be similar to the book and it wasn't, which felt like a great disservice (cutting out the brother, the relationship with her parents and a more in-depth development of Miss Honey). My favourite part in the book is when she first discovers her powers and spends literal months pranking her brother and parents - it felt like such a great payback. I haven't seen any of the films include that.
The first film definitely does a lot of the pranking part. I agree though, having seen the stage musical I think the musical writers ended up adapting 'children in Roald Dahl books' more than Matilda as a character. They do however have a lot more in the musical about her family, which was clearly cut for time in the adaptation.
@@ellencoleman4604 The 96' had a good chunk of it, but pranks like the parrot in the chimney were left out (I remember asking my friends if they had a parrot because I wanted to do something similar and we didn't even have a chimney haha). I have never seen the broadway musical, so that's why I just focused on the films that had been made
@@ccrraazzyyggiirrll Because That’s your problem You guys really need to stop putting sequels/remakes/reboots/adaptations in the shadow of the originals and just let them have their own independent successes and be treated as something completely separate it’s a nasty habit that needs to be stopped
She doesn't prank her family with her powers. She does that in the first half with no powers.
@@madnessarcade7447 Independent from the book? On its own yeah it’s awesome, but this was an adaptation from the broadway musical and the broadway musical is an adaptation of the book. It’s a pretty stupid idea to ask people to treat things independently if the idea, storyline and characters are NOT original
I understand that this one is based off of the Broadway musical, but I still had issues. The lack of development with miss honey and her family- Its just harder to connect with matilda as a character. Also it really bothered me that it felt open ended with matilda and the Librarian idk maybe im missing the point😭💀
For me the file was closer to the book, at least it had the same sprite that the book had.
What really bothered me was the whole "two wrongs don't make a right" thing. Because the lady repeats it and I'm thinking Matilda is gonna learn THAT lesson but at the end... not really, revenge always worked for her.
EDIT: Ok,since obviously my comment is being misinterpreted:
I'm not talking about the moral of the movie. I agree Matilda was in the right and we obviously need to make a stand.
My comment was about the WRITING. I'm not saying that should be the lesson, I'm saying putting that line there and repeat it makes the audience think it's going to have some effect on the story. It's like saying "hear this, pay attention to this, it's gonna come back later!" But it doesn't. And that's BAD WRITING
Yes! I was confused waiting for that arc to show up even just a little but it's like they threw it in there like a "Don't try this at home, kids" disclaimer but then didn't show any consequences for acting out of revenge. At least the OG movie she believed it was justice based on her father's words.
And her astounding ability to maintain a terrifying amount of threatening eye contact. She really was astounding, but there were so many parts of her scenes in particular that were so uncomfortable to sit through. Going to rate it really high, but it was a really interesting thing to sort through during something during “kid movie night”.
I think the point of that is that lessons adults give to children about bullies don't really work? It was the same about telling the headmistress, kinda saying adults don't have the full context of a bullied kid and their well meaning advice don't always work?
And then Matilda says “unless they do”. More people need to learn that lesson and not be a doormat like Ms. Honey. Standing up for yourself even if it is “wrong” is the only way you are going to make things better.
in the book and the original, it was a lesson Matilda misinterpret. Her father told her "when people do something wrong they need to be punished" So when her parents and other people were bad to her she "punished them". both the book and the original said that this is wrong, that there is a difference between standing up oneself from revenge,
I think the movie and plot being rushed and loosing part of the whole story is due to the movie being just about 2 hours, while the stage production is longer giving a bit more space for the story and in between songs. But since the movie had to cram all characters and songs in and still be a watchable length they had to sacrifice a lot, leaving at times only the bare bones of the story left. “Revolting Children” is not supposed to prove Trunchbull right, it’s supposed to show them taking back their free will and minds, the ability to think and stand up for themselves. They are finally able to just BE children and be a bit naughty or act out without fear of literal torture in retribution. This is kind of lost with how it’s performed in the movie
As someone currently in a production of Matilda, just know that they cut four songs out of the movie so… yeah.
The stage production is also very fast paced with songs coming right after one another, musical underscoring under nearly every scene, and choreography that has tons going on at the same time. The movie definitely kept that same feeling, but I feel like that works a lot better on stage than on screen.
En that makes sense, I want to watch the production of Matilda (I’ve listened to the album soundtrack for it and waiting for it to come back to where I am) but I always feel for movies that use musicals as their basis it’s like, some of those songs were necessary for the musical but not for movie.
eg like the chocolate cake song because obviously we can’t actually just be staring at a boy eating cake in silence on stage for a few minutes etc. but in a movie where you can do this with close ups of the kid and reactions of others you don’t need that music to add to anything and so what was ‘enough’ for stage becomes ‘too much’ for movie
Good luck in production 👍
Thank god, I hate musicals, when people are talking and the other person just starts singing I find it so cringy, when Matilda and honey were in the house and honey was just like “tHis iS mY hOmE 5x” like it’s like cool bruh you got a good voice but just keep that shit for Spotify or albums, imo singing is just not for movies, like if you were actually Matilda there you would be like wtf is this lady doing.
@@second6028why did you go see a musical if you knew you hated musicals?
@@second6028 Mate, it's a musical
@@4me1i3they sound like Alex in this video 😅
i would really encourage you to listen to 'quiet' from the musical again, and maybe read the lyrics. Matilda is incredibly neglected by her parents and traumatized and uses school and learning to dissociate from this. The musical focuses more closely on the elements of the book of Matilda gaining control of her environment because she feels so unstable and like she has no control.
I think the biggest issue with the musical is that you're right. When you get to it, it loses all sense of the original book and the movie. Miss Honey's character was barely developed and she's a critical part. Michael (her brother) was cut entirely when I think he really showed that Matilda'a parents had the CAPABILITY to care for a kid, but just not HER. I think you said it best when you said that it's a good movie musical, it's just not a good Matilda movie.
I always related to Matilda when I was a kid because of my somewhat abusive parent, and having connections to some of my own teachers who considered me like their own. I'm so disappointed that this is what came out of it because it is so far from what the original movie is, and what I believe was Roald Dahl's intentions in his book.
@abbytiptonxx I know it's based off the stage musical, heck I even saw it myself twice. Still, I think it does a really bad job of moving from the stage to the screen and loses the messages from the original book, AND the stage musical.
my dad was a near-carbon copy of the 1997 Mr. Wormwood (except for the car thing) this adaptation makes a mockery of Matilda's, mine, and so many other's abuses. Netflix describes the abuse as "bullying" which felt wrong when i first watched it. it took another 2 watches to figure out the reason. i WANT to like this one but it hurts.
I felt the Matilda in this film was more similar to the Matilda in the book. The first film (which I also enjoyed) watered her down quite a lot
@@rainbaby can agree as an 13yr old
They made her mischievous like in the book, but she is still watered down considerably. The book had three or four chapters with Mathilda pranking her family aided by a neighbor boy, which IMO were among the funniest bits of the book, being episodic and always ending with a clever to against her parents. She is a clever little rascal there, I hoped they would keep this part of her character too.
@@evanmak7837 Damn that and the chalkboard part is funny as hell. I mean the parents and Miss truchbull just being terrified is just wow
@@rainbabyno it’s the other way around
@@rainbabypersonally I think the older version has some pretty mature moments. The more fun or magical moments definitely appeal to kids but the family dynamics and some of the character nuances I feel don't sink in quite as much until you're older (like the reasons that Trunchbull targets Matilda I think can be lost on some kids).
But a lot of the elements of the new one I think are way too OTT or depart too much from a realistic story to land with an adult audience. Like the whole element of Matilda knowing Miss Honey's back story is a very odd detour to take.
Roald Dahl books often don't worry themselves with realism and Broadway productions are by their nature more OTT, and that's completely fine. I enjoy Dahl's books and I enjoy Broadway musicals. But movies are a totally different medium, and honestly I think trying to stick too close to the original is a pitfall a lot of film adaptations of musicals fall into. What works on a stage is probably not going to work in a movie.
But also the original film I think also resonated with a lot of children (and adults) who were abused growing up, and with the way they went with the new one, they were never going to capture that same feeling. And I think that it had that going against it, because the comparison was always going to be inevitable even if the new movie was trying to be its own thing seperate from the origin film.
I've seen the stage show and think this is a great adaption of it. I personally didn't miss the cut songs and the visual nods to the original movie in this version are genius.
The tone, pace and feel of the stage version are kept and often enhanced so it is a feature not a bug.
Fun fact, I met one of my best friends, after he played in the Matilda musical!! He is very into theater and played the boy that gets stuck in the cage-thing
I grew up with the original movie as well as all of Roald Dahl's books and I think the musical did a great job capturing Dahl's charm (this being the "this could have only come from a child's imagination" levels of strange at every turn). Maybe the original movie was sweet and heart felt but the musical was just as strange as all of Dahl's works.
True, hahaha i remember reading the chocolate factory with the lyrics written in the book, it kind a grasp roald dahl
It does lose a lot of the intricate character development and relationships tho
I actually have a TON of nostalgia with the 1996 movie. We kept the vhs at our extended family’s beach condo so we only got to watch it once a year, kinda turned into a tradition. So I don’t think anything could beat the original for me 😭
Edit: I never said the musical was bad, I never even spoke on the quality of the musical. Can y’all chill in these replies please.
Love what you love! It's not a remake of the movie it's just a movie version of the musical. They're two very different tales of the book and both rock in my opinion! You do you!
Because That’s your problem You guys really need to stop putting sequels/remakes/reboots/adaptations in the shadow of the originals and just let them have their own independent successes and be treated as something completely separate it’s a nasty habit that needs to be stopped
Agreed like please just come up with something new and creative atp
The musical is its own adaptation of the book, it’s a very good stage show and the film is a very good adaptation of that show. Think of the phantom of the opera for example: the 1925 film is an adaptation of the 1911 book, as is the stage show. They’re two separate pieces of work with the same source material. The 2004 film is a direct adaptation of the stage show, we don’t see it as a remake of the original. It’s the same with Matilda. The new film is a direct adaptation of the stage show, which is adapted from the book, not the 90s film. Same source material, separate films.
@@madnessarcade7447 you’re making it sound like I committed an armed robbery or something omg breathe.
The adaptations were being compared in the video, as they logically would be, so I gave my own opinion. Calm down.
I absolutely agree about the pacing. It really felt like we didn't get to know any of the characters throughout the movie. Especially with so much time spent on the story Matilda is telling which is such a weird addition to the story. Like why does she know Miss Honey's life story randomly? It's never explained. It's just random.
Im pretty sure it was in the book, correct me if im wrong
@@yfk.abcdefghijk Just reread it and I can say it definitely wasn’t.
@@SweenyTodd98 oh ok maybe im thinking of the musical
I agree, and think that goes back to the songs. Like he said, there were so many that things like character and plot development had to be super rushed.
My issue is that you totally CAN have character and plot development with lots of songs (my favorite stage musical is Les Miserables, for crying out loud, which is 100% singing). You just need to incorporate those things into the songs. In Matilda though each song focused on a single point and sang about it, so everything was on hold, or at least slowed down significantly, during the song.
this is based off the musical.
2:47
The PERFORMANCE seemed effortless, but Pam actually had to sit for prosthetics and her body suit as well.
I just saw the movie yesterday.
As someone who watched the original movie and the musical West End Production.
I found the cinematic musical enjoyable.
There were parts that I liked, and some parts that I didn't which was just moments when they cut or changed the songs, or awkward out of nowhere musical numbers.
Like Miracle. I freaking love that song. And I'm a bit upset that they made 'babies' sing it and cutting out some of my favourite lines. Not to mention missing the message of the song Miracle.
In the stage production, Miracle starts with kids at a birthday party. Each bratty, stubborn and full of themselves, saying how their parents call them miracles. Each with a concerning behaviour, one bragging about being a soldier when they've older so they can shoot people in the face and then a girl who wants to be a ballerina refuses to put the work in it, especially give up cake before screaming for more cake.
Then you have the parents not seeing the flaws, and anyone or anything that says otherwise is not the fault of the child but the environment.
(a particular line about a kids school report where the parents decide to change schools because they think the teachers are blind to their miracle of a child)
Then you have the balloon guy who was hired for the party, surrounded by these annoying hyperactive children. Questioning that if every child was miraculous then wouldn't that make them un-miraculous?
This being important as for when Matilda's part comes in, it draws a deep comparison. The only child not called a Miracle is unironically the most miraculous.
The cinematic follows the song kinda accurately, I guess. They cut out Matilda's mum whole solo and subsequence c plot which I can understand because that part wasn't my favourite and ruined the song for me. But as a result they cut out the reason for their disdain for Matilda and one of the best jokes.
Speaking of cutting out things.
They cut out Matilda's older brother and Redalfo(?) (a Musical exclusive character). Which I can understand as Matilda's brother has next to no lines in the musical. The most he ever said was 'Tele' when he was singing 'Tele' with his dear old dad after intermission. Probably a waste of money to have him in but it removes the comparison of how Matilda's parents treats her brother compared to herself.
Redalfo I can understand because they completely cut out Matilda's mum c plot which Redalfo was a part of.
I felt like the School song could've been started off better. In the stage production you had new students singing Miracle, shyly singing that their parents think they're miracles. Before being brutely taken down by the students who have been beaten down by reality. But I'm glad they kept the alphabet representation :).
The Bruce song was definitely fun. I remembered being board in West End during that song but the cinematic release really hyped it up in a fun way.
Love 'When I grow up', it was very cute. Not as grand as the stage production in terms of vocal performances but I loved the visuals. Made me warm inside seeing the kids imagine having fun thinking what it would be like to be a adult where they can do whatever they wanted.
Miss Trunchbull's Throw a Hammer song was fun, I love that they kept the students singing through the screen from the stage production. That was one of my favourite parts from the stage production.
I strangely enough loved Miss Phelps the librarian in the cinematic release as I didn't really cared for her in the stage production. She was a fun loving character.
They blew Revolting Children out of the park. They changed it a bit (not much but to a point that I prefer the stage production version a bit more) but I love the performance and love how they kept the choreography. I had a massive grin on my face the whole time.
The new cinematic song 'Hold Your Hand' or whatever was a nice addition. I understand that they needed a proper ending song compared to the stage production where they ended with 'When I Grow Up Reprise'. So it did its job.
Matilda's actress. I don't know if they had one of the leads from West End to play Matilda or someone new but her eyes man. They stare into my soul.
And I can't exactly hate her dead stare as I feel that people can relate to her. Those who have trouble expressing themselves facially, and have to do so with either words or actions.
So while it unnerved me a little, I like it.
The Magnus chain monster thing was cool too. Not as traumatising as the original movie but still super cool. I definitely saw where the budget went for this movie.
Now Miss Trunchbull herself, I can't believe that's Nanny McPhee. Like, I can kinda see it. Two hardy women in their own right, one a Olympic medalist the other a British War Soldier. Both don't like unruly, chaotic, rebellious children. Both uses harsh methods of punishment to teach their lessons.
The only difference is that Nanny McPhee has good intentions and good lessons to teach while Miss Trunchbull is just a Tyrant.
Miss Hunny was lovely, I love the rep and it didn't feel out of place. Especially since anyone can be a Miss Hunny, no matter their race or skin colour.
And on a final note.
Justice for the underrated song 'Tele'.
Yeah the transition to School Song felt off, like they were just being jumped by older students for no reason.
Makes more sense in the original musical that they’re essentially warning the new students.
It doesn’t come off like that at all in the cinematic adaptation.
Speaking of cut things almost everything funny
mans wrote a whole essay
@@hamotin1michael160
"Where's his thingy?!"
"His what?"
"You know his thingy! What did you do to his thingy?!"
"His-this child is a girl, she doesn't have a-thingy."
"What?! No thingy?!?!! Look at what you did you stupid woman!! This boy got no thingy!!"
Not exactly word by word. I'm going off memory from years ago and my memory isn't that good. But this was one of the jokes they took out.
@@Iamjack_x I got no skill in video making mate. I can write you a whole essay but I don't have the time, patience, experience or skill to make a video.
am I wrong or does every time Alex brakes and laughs it’s like 12x times funnier
Having never seen the stage musical prior to this movie, I liked the added elements, particularly the storyline of the Escapologist and the Acrobat, and how it's paid off later on.
*Ok_Dont_Read_My_Names*
.......
That's my favorite plot line of the story. The musical was less about Matildas relationship with her parents and more about her relationship with Ms Honey and her fathers spirit showing Matilda his story. I loved it.
I was kinda shook when I started this video because it seems you changed your format a bit. I personally like analysis/commentary videos and with the updated animation it flowed nicely. It was just the intro that threw me because I was not expecting this kind of content. I'm also pleasantly surprised that you fit all this in under 19 minutes.
I'd like to imply that this adaptation is based off of the West End musical mostly based on the book, not the movie. I think people see this but there are some who just see adaptation and instantly complain.
interesting thx!
This video doesn't imply anything different.
He compares and contrasts the two film versions because they're both films, there's an obligatory relationship if they're going to exist in the same art form. The Netflix one is easily the more full production and a good musical film, since it's an adaptation of a good musical... but the storytelling in the 90s adaptation is too superior to just ignore.
@@benjsmithproductions i feel as though films and musical have very different goals in terms of audience, how they want to make you feel etc. like his complaint abt 'too many songs' is really a moot point because unfortunately thats how musicals work. similarly with his complaints regarding the side plot of matilda making up a story. i agree that i prefer the film, im not into musicals myself, but i feel some of the comparisons are unfair.
its shit
@@benjsmithproductions I guess, it just feels unfair imo
I quite love this adaptation as its like a middle ground between the book and the musical. And the way they had When I Grown Up right after Bruce was really beautiful; the kids just witnessed abuse from a person whose supposed to uplift them and help them join the real world, and When I Grow Up is them fantasizing about escaping that abuse and how once they are grown up, they'll be able to "fight the monsters under their beds" aka the trauma they received from Ms. Trunchbull and fight anyone else who tries to lay that same trauma and abuse onto other children. Ms. Honey also singing with the children shows how all the abuse she continuously receives makes her feel so small and like a child imagining how live would be if/when the abuse ends.
And for Revolting Children, it’s a song about finally being able to fight back against your abuser and have your voice finally heard instead of being dismissed. As someone who lives in an abusive household I’ve always found When I Grow Up and Quiet extremely relatable and hearing Revolting Children always fills me with such joy that those kids (even though they are fictional) we’re able to do what I have always dream of
I agree with everything you said 100%!!!
This movie was horrible I couldn’t finish it
@@raqui174 okay? Good for you?
@@raqui174 no one asked :)
@@darao.4907 and no one asked you 🤪.. I’m free to comment whatever I feel or think.. this movie completely sucked.. I said it again 😊
This is the problem with turning plays into movies. A lot of them look like plays that were turned into movies. It’s almost like watching a Hallmark movie without commercials. It’s clearly made for there to be small breaks as a scene changes and so transitions between scenes can seem clunky and like we’re just going from one location to the next with nothing between.
Not to mention that most plays run for hours, while movies are only budgeted to run for 1hr+30min.
I'm sure it'd be better if they were able to be unlimited with the length of the movie.
It's like book to movie adaptions, they have to leave out the less important things because there's no way of adding it into the movie as it won't make sense without the context.
@@Univerzion That's one reason I'm cautiously optimistic about the Wicked musical: it's going to be 2 parts.
@@cerrida82 I had to look it up as I don't watch musicals much. I'm assuming, and I feel it'd be logical, the 1st part will be before the events of Dorothy and up to it, and 2nd part would be right after Dorothy. Otherwise idk how the play would go.
If that is how it goes then it would be a good idea for them to put it in parts. Though sucks they can't do it all at once and just have one big 3hr movie. At least in parts they have more room to include things they otherwise wouldn't be able to if they tried shoving it all into an hour long film
I'll say it again. I love all of the, not dumb, but not like deep deep analysis videos, but i think its also awesome when Alex puts in these deep segments/really thoughtful analysis of shows/movies and their impact
The adults are the older kids in the show. They symbolize just how much older and scarier the older kids look to the really little kids going to school for the first time.
Edit: The Matilda musical is pretty solid honestly. personally it's not an album I listen to every song on but it has a few really good songs (revolting children being one of them). The dancing was always it's strong suit in my opinion.
I remember 4th graders being 5m tall with shadows over their eyes when I was in 1st grade, while my 2m uncle was just one head taller as he was so nice..!
@@TeruteruBozusama wait.....5 meters? Do u mean feet?
@@aperson2224 I grew up somewhere using meters and since I have never been in USA have I never learned inch, feet, etc.
They actually cut songs and the older brother out, probably to help with the pacing. I think the mom has a song, which they filmed, so I hope they release it as an extra.
There was also a song about tv
I feel like part of the reason this movie doesn't fully work, and you'll be shocked to hear this, is because it is quite cut down. In the stage show there is more time developed to exploring (yes in song) the relationship between Matilda and Miss Honey, as well as Matilda's crummy home life.
"I think it's a very good musical movie, but I don't think it's a very good matilda movie" Yeah I get that.
I agree with your commentary. The sets, costumes, colors, choreography, and songs was beautiful! The song Matilda sings at her house in the musical had a great message about not accepting shitty circumstances in your life and how you can overcome them. The musical was good but it dragged on because it was so many songs. I paused this movie so many times because it felt like it was too much going on at once 😭 The OG Matilda will always be #1 in my book!
SN: Those kids was was killin that choreography the entire movie!! 🔥🔥👏🏽
Well, tbf the OG Matilda is the book and the musical is more accurate to that source material
This version actually has quite a few less songs than the Broadway musical, it just feels like a lot since it is 40 minutes shorter than the original musical so it’s a bit rushed
I don't know if it's a good thing, but I think the movie musical hinges on the fact that people already know the storyline/plot. So it focuses on adding more to what was already intially there, rather than re-solidifying every character arc.
yep, that's the whole point. It's supposed to tell you something different/ more.
people dont realise how good this bloody editing is
this movie is definitely one of those things where if you're not a musical person, you won't like it. "the girls that get it, get it" sort of thing. plus what many people don't understand is you can't really compare the two movies, unless you're bringing the original source material into the conversation. the musical isn't based off of the first movie at all, just the book. they're both their own adaptation and deserve to be treated as such, and not compared to each other.
The trouble is, though, the musical is relying on memory from the movie for a lot of it's emotional weight. I love musicals, but I didn't like this one. The fear of the choky is wasted by never showing anyone inside it, just external reactions (which can only go so far). Ms. Honey's fear of Trunchbull feels weaker since it's based on emotional jibes and the childhood incident with the cellar, and it cripples her character since she has less reason to not report Trunchbull. And the message of the story feels disjointed. Is it about revenge vs justice? We never see negative consequences for revenge so no. Is it about found family? We don't spend much time seeing a family relationship grow between Ms. Honey and Matilda, so no. Is it about children having the right to be bratty sometimes? Quite possibly given that it has like 3 songs dedicated to that idea.
@@MerWhoPotLuck9 i disagree on the insinuation the 1996 movie is relevant to this, the books are a lot more iconic and remembered then the movie, roald dahl is extremely well regarded
The movie is about standing up for what you believe in instead of accepting whats around you, they literally call it.a revolution at one point
@@MerWhoPotLuck9saying that this film is at all dependent on the 1996 film is absurd; it should be obvious from simply watching the new film that that is not the case, even more so if you consider that the screenwriter and book writer for both the stage and screen has yet to even watch that version. the argument about chokey is another thing that gets me; the fact that we don’t see it’s interior is deliberate.. it creates so much more mystery and allows the imagination to run wild, which, as a dramatic technique, is way more terrifying.
true. both movies are good in my opinion and shouldn’t be compared because they are so different.
@@chargestone96 really? Cuz before this video I didn’t even know there was a book maybe I had seen it somewhere and forgot but I feel like more know the movie
When I Grow Up isn’t unnecessary. It’s sung immediately after Bruce is put into the Chokey. These kids are literally living in a hell and the song is about the essentially feeling like this is just normal and that all these problems will go away when they’re adults. And then Miss Honey sings, and we realize everyone is always waiting for that magical time when we know everything and our problems resolve themselves, but that time doesn’t come unless we do something.
Yeah I stopped watching after he said that As his opinion is invalid to me now 😂
they could have at least kept the original musical's imagery with the swings. it would have so damn easy to keep it.
For this movie they took out at lot of key points and songs from the original stage play, (as someone who knows the original stage play well) the parents both has solo songs, as well Ms honey also had two solo songs to herself, on top of ‘my house’ all of which got cut out. Due to both the parent song’s getting cut out, as well as the brother character entirely removed from the script in the movie, it left a large chuck of Matilda’s family life out of the story, something that is very important to the character. I can understand why they cut some songs due to time restrictions of the films length, but (in case you didn’t know) the last song was an original for the movie. They could have used that time spend on that new song on other song. For example ‘loud’, the song her mother sings. It’s during when miss honey goes to Matilda’s house to drop off further reading for her, showing both the audience and miss honey how her mother views the world and Matilda. That would have been better the story. All in all I do think they did well with what they where given, I loved the actress that played Matilda. Also fun fact, if you didn’t know the Truchball in the stage production is almost always played by a male dressed up as a female.
My House was actual in Netflix's rendition of the musical but yeah, it's a shame they didn't include Loud and Telly.
As much as I remember about the stage production there was a lot more character development about her dad. I feel like they had to cut a lot of it out to fit into a movie length and still keep all the songs.
I actually really enjoyed how the new Matilda was headstrong and wasn't timid, I think it actually made her seem less 'perfect'. A lot of kids are constantly being told to shut up and be quiet and that their feeling are invalid, that it was very refreshing to see a young girl allowed to be angry (something i think i would have benefitted from as a kid)
Exactly!! That's how I saw it.
I also loved that! (I enjoyed both Matilda's movies). I'm glad they made Matilda stronger, because she feels lonely to the point she recognizes the only person she can count on is herself, and that's a different and totally valid outcome of a neglected child. She also seems angrier and, even if she is smart, she translates a lot of what she hears from adults into her stories and views of the world, almost like rather than Matilda "being" mature/an adult, she is just mimicking them in order to survived this world.
Also, the fact that her powers are more related to rage and being neglected, to the point they only show up when she is in distress, and not when she is having fun.
having Matilda be more courageous and expressive is a great contrast to Miss Honey’s character, which is why I like Matilda’s personality in this movie more. In comparison to Miss Honey who sat back and took all of her abuse and trauma and never spoke up, Matilda fights back and she doesn’t let things go. It’s who Miss Honey wished she would have been. I do think their relationship could’ve been fleshed out a bit more in this movie but that contrast actually builds a really good foundation.
@@walkingexistentaldread3079 YES
Except she was clearly meant to be perfect. A better character arc would’ve shown her realise why she wasn’t perfect as you said. But they never mentioned it
I saw the Broadway show and there were a lot of songs but it made up for things with the special effects and most of the story was told in song or silence for a dance number (that was amazing) so singing just felt like the norm. Also for the Amanda part, they had a little girl “flying” around the room and she passed in front of me which was pretty cool 😄
The circus scene was the best thing I’ve ever seen!!!! I cried as an 8 year old
I remember watching this thinking it was going to be more wholesome than the first one but they just made it more gruesome
Shows how twisted roald dahl was as this is closer to the book
Im genuinely curious why it seemed gruesome for you?
@@aebu.g you saw the kid eating the cake..?
@@SuccinctEarth07 I remember watching the witches movie and being traumatized
@@m_artroom oh don't remind me, nightmares for months about being trapped as a mouse
16:34 “what no…no haven’t I just told you she is a GaNgSta”😂this is one of my favorite lines of the new one.
5:20 It's seems like Matilda isn't the only person with super powers in this movie, because I don't know about you but if was thrown like 15 miles away I would NOT survive.
As someone who does have nostalgia for the old Matilda movie, i was quite impressed with the musical. The tone of the musical is more true to the book than the 96 movie was. Matilda in the movie is very much a Mary-Sue, while in the musical, she and the other children are more cheeky and brazen. Also, the role of Miss Honey in the musical was very well acted because you can see clearly the effects of the abuse she endured as a child as opposed to the mary-sueish miss Honey in the movie. I very much enjoyed the Miss Trunchbull in the movie, but her antics were very cartoonish, whereas in the musical she's more terrifying while at the same tome having those Dahl-esque silly moments.
So basically the musical is more Doald Dahl then the movie. Damn
tbh they are both very, very mary-sue-ish, just in different forms
honestly I just said that not to be judged, but ima get this out of the way, the original matilda had buildup, though having traits of a mary-sue, the new musical made her fit that mary-sue role better
"Mary Sue" is a derogatory term with no agreed-upon definition and invites flame wars. I don't advise using it for any character, ever.
I don't think calling Matilda a "Mary sue" is accurate.
Her personality is definitely watered down in the beginning, but honestly that's not uncommon in children who have been abused and neglected. As she starts getting a handle on her powers, her personality starts to come through more and you see she's kind of sarcastic and even borders on arrogant at points. And the revenge she takes gets pretty messed up. Even as a kid I thought gluing her father's hat to his head was intense.
And I think both versions of Trunch got a bit campy and OTT at times, though the dynamic in the original between her and Miss Honey always seemed more sinister to me than any interactions Trunch had with the kids.
I thought Matilda asked Ms Honey where she'd gotten her _scar_ and I was subsequently so confused when she responded with, "My mother gave it to my father before he died" 😶
Sameee
As someone in the musical, I was so excited when this came out and it was to nice to see songs from a musical that me and my freinds took part in.