It isn't Matilda's absurdly lousy parents.
It isn't even the girl's telekinesis.
What makes "Roald Dahl's Matilda the Musical" hard to buy into — at least for an adult largely unfamiliar with the late children's author's 1988 novel, "Matilda," or its 1996 big-screen adaptation — is the utter rottenness of its villain.
Performed with gusto by the veteran actress Emma Thompson, Miss Trunchbull is the headmistress of Crunchem Hall. Apparently, in Dahl's world, there is zero educational oversight in England, considering that, in full view of all the other students, Miss Trunchbull grabs a girl by her pigtails and throws her over a fence several feet away. (To be fair, immediately after the toss, she asks another child to check if the girl is still alive.)
Get past that cartoonish, though, and this adaptation of the stage musical that won seven Olivier Awards in 2012, including Best New Musical, is a charming-and-heart-warming affair kids are likely to adore. Released a month ago in the United Kingdom and a couple of weeks later in select U.S. theaters, it is getting a Christmas Day debut on Netflix.
The film feels as if it were made with great care, not a stretch considering the director and writer of the Royal Shakespeare Company's "Matilda the Musical," Matthew Warchus and Dennis Kelly, respectively, handle those same duties on the movie, bringing with them the original lyrics and music by Tim Minchin.
"Roald Dahl's Matilda the Musical" greets the viewer with the cheery number "Miracle," during which adorable babies sing (without moving lips) as do their thrilled new parents, who also snap pictures of them. We even get a joyous doctor at a hospital full of color.
However, there is no joy being expressed, no pics being snapped by Mr. and Mrs. Wormwood (Stephen Graham and Andrea Riseborough) around the birth of their daughter, Matilda.
A few years later, her parents largely ignore Matilda (Alisha Weir) — in favor of garbage TV and sketchy money-making endeavors — despite the fact that she is extraordinary. She is gifted at math and devours many books per week and is telling an ongoing story, as it comes to her, about a pair of carnival performers — the Escapologist (Carl Spencer) and the Acrobat (Lauren Alexandra Amanda) — to the receptive Mrs. Phelps (Sindhu Vee), the kind woman who runs a mobile library.
So lousy are the Wormwoods that they've forgotten to send Matilda to school at the appropriate age, falsely claiming during a visit by a local authority that she is home-schooled.
Soon enough, Matilda attends Crunchem Hall, with Mr. Wormwood having great admiration for Miss Trunchbull. Surely, she'll straighten out this, um, troublemaker. (Her biggest sin in her father's eyes is not having been born a boy.)
At Crunchem, the punchy colors from the movie's opening give way to the grimmest of grays. The dreary place is more prison than school, with the burly-and-boxy Trunchbull surveilling the terrified students on tiny video screens and threatening to put them in "the chokey" (gulp) if they draw her ire for any of a number of reasons, many of them absurd.
Oh, and she routinely calls them "maggots."
(She seems to answer to no one, so try not to think much about what her performance reviews would be like.)
The lone ray of light emanates from caring and compassionate teacher Miss Honey (Lashana Lynch), who quickly sees how special Matilda is. Unfortunately, her attempt to tailor a personal curriculum for the girl is squashed by the headmistress.
For her part, Matilda challenges Trunchbull at many an opportunity, becoming a revolutionary on the school grounds. Defeaturing this large monster will be the tallest of tasks for this little girl, but Matilda's discovery of an aforementioned special ability may just tip the scales.
"Roald Dahl's Matilda the Musical" has a great deal going for it, starting with the casting of Weir, a relatively last-minute decision by the production after it already had gone through an extensive search for someone to embody the titular figure. The young actress is an eminently likable Matilda and boasts a solid singing voice, on display in numbers including "Naughty," "I'm Here" and the show-closing "Still Holding My Hand," her duet with the likewise well-cast Lynch ("No Time to Die").
And, again, Thompson ("Cruella") handles the over-the-top cruelty required to play Trunchbull as well as you'd expect. This is a one-note villain, though, so Thompson isn't exactly asked to flex her acting muscles. Young viewers will detest her, though, which is all that really matters.
Behind the camera, the Tony Award-winning Warchus ("God of Carnage"), whose previous film-directorial efforts were "Simpatico" (1999) and "Pride" (2004), succeeds where many other directors of musical adaptation have failed. This movie musical is full of energy and life, thanks in part to the contributions of editor Melanie Oliver, director of photography Ted Radcliffe, production designers Christian Huband and David Hindle, costume designer Rob Howell and, especially, editor Melanie Oliver.
And while it's not hard to find a stronger collection of songs, Minchin's compositions work quite nicely within the context of a story.
"Matilda" is a strange story — sorry if you disagree — but this version should provide a little warmth over the coming chilly holiday.
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'ROALD DAHL'S MATILDA THE MUSICAL'
3 stars (out of 4)
Rating: PG (for thematic elements, exaggerated bullying and some language)
Running time: 1:57
How to watch: On Netflix Sunday
