Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical
Cert PG| ★★★★✩

Tim Minchin's hugely successful RSC musical adaptation of Roald Dahl’s 1988 classic book Matilda gets the big screen treatment in this genuinely thrilling reimagining from Pride director Matthew Warchus.

In it, Emma Thompson stars as the sadistic hammer-wielding headmistress Miss Trunchbull, while Irish newcomer Alisha Weir is child prodigy Matilda.

Warchus’ film was the first- ever musical to open The London Film Festival at the 2022 edition this last October.

The film also stars Bond and Marvel favourite Lashana Lynch, Andrea Riseborough and multi-award-winner Stephen Graham.

Matilda, a neglected, yet very bright and resourceful schoolgirl, battles monsters both at home and at school. Her neglectful and very greedy parents (Riseborough and Graham are both brilliant ) have no interest in her, while her new headmistress is an iron-fisted Soviet-style former Olympic hammer thrower who despises her pupils.

As she battle against the school’s rigid rules, Matilda finds an ally in her inspirational teacher Miss Honey (Lynch). As they get to know one another, they form an unbreakable bond and find that they have more in common than they had ever dreamed of.

Presiding over the musical side of things, Minchin and co-writer Christopher Nightingale have reworked the brilliant stage numbers into this neatly packed, if a little overlong, adaptation.

Elevated throughout by David Hindle and Christian Huband’s production design and by Rob Howell’s imaginative costume designs, Matilda The Musical is as hectic in its pacing, as it is engaging storywise.

Roald Dahl-s Matilda The Musical 00 14 01 03Crop

A scene from Roald Dahl's Matilda The Musical

There are moments that are darker than one would have expected, but on the whole Minchin, Warchus et al have delivered a robustly made adaptation of this much-loved musical.

Thompson, in heavy prosthetics, is a million miles away from the likeable roles that made her not only a household name but a national treasure. Here, she seems to be having a whale of a time as the villain of the piece.

Lynch’s delivery is breathtaking from the get-go, while Weir is truly maginificent throughout. If you are able to divorce the work from the author — Dahl was notorious for his antisemitism — Matilda the Musical is both thrilling and engaging, even if at just under two hours with no interval, some parents might struggle to keep their young ones in their seats.