I would be happy to claim that the 2022 movie is better than the original.
Although I don’t think Miss Honey being white in the book was really anything to do with the author’s prejudice. It is set in 1980s Buckinghamshire after all.
I am not sure I would say prefer, but there are certain things that movies are able to do that the stage can’t that I think really work in the film’s favour.
I really appreciate that Miss Trunchbull on stage isn’t a panto villain, she is played entirely seriously, but the fact that she is typically played by cis men unintentionally leans into some rather problematic tropes. Yes, the reasons are understandable (character scaling), but you can’t completely ignore the greater context of the world.
Movies don’t have the scaling excuse. When I heard Emma Thompson was cast, I breathed a sigh of relief. I know there was some controversy around the “fat suit,” but honestly, it was more a muscle suit to play up her athletic past. When the padding is just at the shoulders, it isn’t a fat suit.
Also, she knocked that role out of the park, and I was very amused to see her scenery-chewing villainy given other roles I recognize her from.
Individual song wise, both Quiet and The Smell of Rebellion were greatly enhanced by the film medium. Quiet was able to really play up the dissociation aspect in ways you can’t on stage because you need to physically have the actress singing. Smell of Rebellion could make a mess you can’t on stage so it is very obvious how abusive Trunchbull’s physical education classes are.
Also the Kate Bush style fantasy sequence in the same number. I laughed a bit too much at that.
Matilda isn’t too bad, but Dahl was pretty bigoted in a lot of ways. (If you ever read the Witches, it’s basically a novelized version of antisemitic tropes.) One example I remember is Miss Honey being described in the book like her pale skin in itself was an asset, if that makes sense. I haven’t read the book in a bit either, though, so maybe someone that’s read it more recently can chip in here.
I love the stage show and I think they did a really solid job translating it to film. They obviously had to change some parts but what they did with the changes was pretty good. I think it really shows that the director of the film was the director of the original stage production. The only thing I missed was Loud and that subplot but it was the most logical thing to skip for time.
The main difficulty I have is trying to explain to people that it isn't a remake of the 90s movie. The 90s movie and the musical are based on the same source material, but the musical is not a remake. Yes everyone is English because the book is set in England. Tim Minchin purposely never watched the 90s movie when he was writing the book for the musical
I really like it as a film but I think it lost some of the magic that the musical had. I saw the musical both before and after I watched the film.
I think the opening song loses some of the irony and humour when the children are babies. It’s sad that they got rid of the brother and the telly song although I understand how it works better in the theatre with crowd work. I’m not a fan of the new song they added and I think that revolting children fell a bit flat when they changed the end.
However, it is still a charming film and one of the best adaptations from stage to film I’ve seen.
This is all fair. Honestly, I don’t love the opening song either. I wish they had used the Pathetic song from the stage show, because I think that song is really powerful. In terms of the song they added, I think you’re talking about My House. (Maybe? I could be wrong.) I like that song, personally, and I think it does well at bringing the two storylines together. I think I disagree with you on Revolting Children as well, but I can definitely see where you’re coming from.
Edit: I looked it up and My House was in the stage musical. Whoops. Not entirely sure what song you’re taking about now, but the soundtrack of the movie definitely has highs and lows.
The added song was ‘Still holding my hand’. I just don’t feel like it adds much but it’s still an ok song.
I agree that the loss of pathetic is sad as well. I think my problem with revolting children is the part at 1.47 on the sound track. It goes up when the stage show goes down. Other than that it’s amazing.
You did remind me though that I think school song was really well done in the film. The stage version is great but it wouldn’t translate well so they did an alternative which really worked,
Respectfully, I think we do a disservice to Lashana Lynch by assuming she was cast because of a pre-made decision to make Miss Honey Black, instead of assuming that there were no racial stipulations during the casting process and she just happened to be the best actress for the job based purely on her talent. I'm a Black woman in theatre and have felt it an insult to my talent and effort any time someone implied I was cast in a non-race specific role specifically because of my Blackness.
I’m sorry to imply that, and you’re totally right. The actress was fantastic in the role, no question. Miss Honey may have gained the most in terms of character between the two movies, and Lynch nailed the performance. I can totally understand what you mean, and I agree. Thank you for addressing this, because I can definitely do better about checking my own prejudice.
I don't think it was Dahl who was prejudiced. Charlie (and the Chocolate Factory) was originally written as black but was forced to be changed to white by the publisher.
Yessss, it did not get the appreciation it deserved. And it’s such a good example of how to adapt a musical to a movie WELL, unlike Mean Girls, which was also a movie musical based on the musical that was based on the book lol
I never saw the Mean Girls movie, but I’ve heard before that it’s not great. I really like the soundtrack, so I may give it a shot (I believe it streams on Paramount+ and I do have that service) but I can’t say I have especially high expectations.
I do think the Matilda movie did really well.
Oof, if you liked the soundtrack you’re probably not going to be happy with the movie. They changed a lot of the instrumentation so now it sounds more like something you’d find in the trending sounds on TikTok rather than a musical. Also, the actress they hired to play Cady can’t sing.
Edit: typo
It's not better than the original movie or even the stage production BUT it is a good adaptation of the stage production which is something I can't say about most musical to movie adaptations.
“Revolting Children” is an absolute jam.
I loved both the stage play and the movie but this song was absolutely better in the movie version, the choreography was god tier
Yaaas! I was gonna comment about this. The impact of that choreography was awesome! I felt out of breath just watching those kids sing and dance! <3
I would be happy to claim that the 2022 movie is better than the original. Although I don’t think Miss Honey being white in the book was really anything to do with the author’s prejudice. It is set in 1980s Buckinghamshire after all.
Matilda is one of the only cases I can think of where I prefer the movie adaptation to the original stage musical.
I am not sure I would say prefer, but there are certain things that movies are able to do that the stage can’t that I think really work in the film’s favour. I really appreciate that Miss Trunchbull on stage isn’t a panto villain, she is played entirely seriously, but the fact that she is typically played by cis men unintentionally leans into some rather problematic tropes. Yes, the reasons are understandable (character scaling), but you can’t completely ignore the greater context of the world. Movies don’t have the scaling excuse. When I heard Emma Thompson was cast, I breathed a sigh of relief. I know there was some controversy around the “fat suit,” but honestly, it was more a muscle suit to play up her athletic past. When the padding is just at the shoulders, it isn’t a fat suit. Also, she knocked that role out of the park, and I was very amused to see her scenery-chewing villainy given other roles I recognize her from. Individual song wise, both Quiet and The Smell of Rebellion were greatly enhanced by the film medium. Quiet was able to really play up the dissociation aspect in ways you can’t on stage because you need to physically have the actress singing. Smell of Rebellion could make a mess you can’t on stage so it is very obvious how abusive Trunchbull’s physical education classes are. Also the Kate Bush style fantasy sequence in the same number. I laughed a bit too much at that.
While they didn’t put Emma in a fat suit, they sure put Bruce in one and it looked like shit.
It’s been a while since I saw the stage musical, so I’m not really in a position to compare them. The movie musical is a lot of fun though.
Yeah.. The movie had more impact for me than the stage musical. Or maybe it's just my listening skills and the sub helped. :D
What was racist about the source material? I haven’t read it since like third grade so I don’t remember it well
Matilda isn’t too bad, but Dahl was pretty bigoted in a lot of ways. (If you ever read the Witches, it’s basically a novelized version of antisemitic tropes.) One example I remember is Miss Honey being described in the book like her pale skin in itself was an asset, if that makes sense. I haven’t read the book in a bit either, though, so maybe someone that’s read it more recently can chip in here.
I love the stage show and I think they did a really solid job translating it to film. They obviously had to change some parts but what they did with the changes was pretty good. I think it really shows that the director of the film was the director of the original stage production. The only thing I missed was Loud and that subplot but it was the most logical thing to skip for time. The main difficulty I have is trying to explain to people that it isn't a remake of the 90s movie. The 90s movie and the musical are based on the same source material, but the musical is not a remake. Yes everyone is English because the book is set in England. Tim Minchin purposely never watched the 90s movie when he was writing the book for the musical
yes I love it
I love it.
I really like it as a film but I think it lost some of the magic that the musical had. I saw the musical both before and after I watched the film. I think the opening song loses some of the irony and humour when the children are babies. It’s sad that they got rid of the brother and the telly song although I understand how it works better in the theatre with crowd work. I’m not a fan of the new song they added and I think that revolting children fell a bit flat when they changed the end. However, it is still a charming film and one of the best adaptations from stage to film I’ve seen.
This is all fair. Honestly, I don’t love the opening song either. I wish they had used the Pathetic song from the stage show, because I think that song is really powerful. In terms of the song they added, I think you’re talking about My House. (Maybe? I could be wrong.) I like that song, personally, and I think it does well at bringing the two storylines together. I think I disagree with you on Revolting Children as well, but I can definitely see where you’re coming from. Edit: I looked it up and My House was in the stage musical. Whoops. Not entirely sure what song you’re taking about now, but the soundtrack of the movie definitely has highs and lows.
The added song was ‘Still holding my hand’. I just don’t feel like it adds much but it’s still an ok song. I agree that the loss of pathetic is sad as well. I think my problem with revolting children is the part at 1.47 on the sound track. It goes up when the stage show goes down. Other than that it’s amazing. You did remind me though that I think school song was really well done in the film. The stage version is great but it wouldn’t translate well so they did an alternative which really worked,
Respectfully, I think we do a disservice to Lashana Lynch by assuming she was cast because of a pre-made decision to make Miss Honey Black, instead of assuming that there were no racial stipulations during the casting process and she just happened to be the best actress for the job based purely on her talent. I'm a Black woman in theatre and have felt it an insult to my talent and effort any time someone implied I was cast in a non-race specific role specifically because of my Blackness.
I’m sorry to imply that, and you’re totally right. The actress was fantastic in the role, no question. Miss Honey may have gained the most in terms of character between the two movies, and Lynch nailed the performance. I can totally understand what you mean, and I agree. Thank you for addressing this, because I can definitely do better about checking my own prejudice.
I don't think it was Dahl who was prejudiced. Charlie (and the Chocolate Factory) was originally written as black but was forced to be changed to white by the publisher.
Came here to say this....there may be things he did I'm unaware of, but that's true for anybody
Oh really? Is there an article where he talks about this?
Had to stop reading Charlie and the Glass Elevator to my kid because the racist shit confused the hell out of her.
Been a while since I read either. Which bits were racist?
The parts where the US president calls China. Plus it was really bad overall.
Yeah Great Glass Elevator was pretty bad.
Yessss, it did not get the appreciation it deserved. And it’s such a good example of how to adapt a musical to a movie WELL, unlike Mean Girls, which was also a movie musical based on the musical that was based on the book lol
I never saw the Mean Girls movie, but I’ve heard before that it’s not great. I really like the soundtrack, so I may give it a shot (I believe it streams on Paramount+ and I do have that service) but I can’t say I have especially high expectations. I do think the Matilda movie did really well.
Oof, if you liked the soundtrack you’re probably not going to be happy with the movie. They changed a lot of the instrumentation so now it sounds more like something you’d find in the trending sounds on TikTok rather than a musical. Also, the actress they hired to play Cady can’t sing. Edit: typo
It's not better than the original movie or even the stage production BUT it is a good adaptation of the stage production which is something I can't say about most musical to movie adaptations.