*I WAS NOT READY!!* Matilda (1996) Reaction: FIRST TIME WATCHING 

Fact about this movie. The actress who plays Matilda had a mother who had a major illness that was killing her and eventually made her become a full time patient. During the filming Danny Devito took care of the young actress, and made sure her mom got an advanced copy of the movie, so she could see it before she passed. Then Devito continued to care for her after the movie.

Mara Wilson's mom died of breast cancer while the movie was being filmed. She honored her by bravely finishing the movie which was dedicated to her memory. She had thought for years that her mother had never gotten to see the completed film. But years later Danny DeVito revealed he had shown her a rough cut of what they had filmed shortly before she died. Danny DeVito, who also directed the movie, and Rhea Perlman were married in real life. A stark contrast to their characters, they became very close to Mara during production. They would often let her stay at their home while her father was working and her mother was in the hospital receiving cancer treatments. Mara was so self-conscious about the dancing scene that Danny DeVito had the entire cast and crew dance along with her on set. The picture of Miss Honey's father is actually a portrait of Roald Dahl, the author of the book upon which the film is based. Pam Ferris, who plays Miss Trunchbull, also played Aunt Marge in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

Miss Honeys house is very different from the book. The main difference being that there is literally nothing in there besides a small camping stove, and two wooden boxes. Matilda didn't decide to help her just to get justice for Miss Honeys father. She also did it because Miss Honey needed serious help.

As a child, this was a fun movie to watch. As an adult, it's terrifying and almost traumatic 😂

So interesting you said it had a willy wonka vibe when both are Roald Dahl book adaptations! He definitely does have a distinct tone and if you are a fan of reading I recommend his adult books (they're insanely creepy but very cool).

Mara Wilson was actually really nervous about dancing on the table, so Danny Devito got the whole cast to dance behind the camera with her.

Trunchbull has definitely earned her spot in the villainous educators hall of fame. Also love how closely she resembles Quentin Blake's original illustration from the book.

I say this so many times but it's true, this movie is so extremely special to me. I absolutely love it. I feel like it's one of Danny DeVito's most dedicated projects. He directed it, narrated it, co-starred in it and acted as a sort of father figure to Mara Wilson especially for when her mother was sick and he arranged for her to get a special viewing of the movie before she died. I just love movies like this where it's not only beautifully done but the cast and crew also have such good chemistry.

I love this movie and all Roald Dahl books. They usually start with either the parents dying or being horrible. The children are amazing and resilient. Adults often claim these books are not good for young children. Children know better which is why they are still loved decades after Dahl wrote them. Btw...one of the FBI agents is Pee Wee Herman. The word lilliputian comes from Jonathan Swift's 1726 novel, Gulliver's Travels. Lilliput is the name of a fictional island whose people, the Lilliputians, stand only about six inches high.

Matilda finally finding her home with someone that truly loves her is so wonderful. Love this movie.

There's a whole bit in the book that mentions that the Trunchbull told her that now that she's an adult, she has to start paying her back for everything she did for her. The only money she had was a pound a week. The Trunchbull made her sign a paper that would redirect all of her paycheck directly into her bank. But what's really gonna mess with your head is the assumption is she killed the father for the inheritance, and we find out Miss Honeys inheritance was never touched all this time, so the natural conclusion here is that after the father died, Trunchbull was informed she wasn't entitled to the money part of the inheritance because it's in Miss Honeys name, and thus took it out on Miss Honey by stealing her wages.

This movie makes me so emotional. Sometimes you're just born in the wrong family, and you grow up feeling unloved and isolated. And sometimes you find lovable and lovely people in your life. And... idk, sometimes we think things are hard when we are kids and everything will be better when we grow up, but adults get scared too.

Roald Dahl is the author of Matilda as well as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, so that's where the vibe comes from. His children's books have darker elements like old fairytales. So my next 90s movie recommendation is The Witches 1990 also based on one his books

Danny DeVito is a triple threat with this one: Director, Narrator, and Mr. Wormwood. And he (and this then wife, and on screen partner, Rhea Pearlman) was great to Mara Wilson who unfortunately lost her mother whilst this was in production.

This movie is such a nostalgia trip for me. Mara Wilson was such a talented actress, (and still is) And upon watching it again, I've realized just how horrifying Ms. Trunchbull is.

This has actually been a comfort movie for me ever since I was a little kid. I always liked to pretend I had some sort of superpowers like Matilda, and wished that I could use them to get back at bullies growing up. Her story gave me the strength to believe that things can get better. Also, I totally agree all of the main cast killed their roles, especially Ms. Trunchbull. The game of hide and seek throughout the house gave me so much anxiety. 🤣

‘Oh my god how dark does this get?’ Well I’m not gonna lie to you, many of dahl’s books, although children’s books, are really quite dark! As a child he was my favourite author, I read his books multiple times, at one point I could recite the first few chapters of George’s marvellous medicine by heart, but it never occurred to me how dark some of them really were until I was an adult

Pam Ferris played ms. Trunchbull. She was aunt marge in Harry Potter and was also in a movie called Death to Smoochy with Danny Devito. I def recommend that movie. it’s dark, niche humor and chock full of f bombs, wicked funny When trunchbull swung Amanda by her hair, devito gave the actress a code word she could use if she wanted to stop. In the scene where Mara Wilson was dancing on the table, Mara was super self conscious. DeVito’s response was to get everybody to dance, cast and crew, so that Mara Wilson was not dancing alone. Others have said this as well, but Mara Wilson’s mom was dying at the time. devito and Perlman were incredibly loving and supportive of her and even rushed the process of editing and finishing up the movie so that they could have a copy to show Mara Wilson’s mom before she passed away.

pam ferris did such a good job in this. she was legit scary

I love how you say gives you willy wonka vibes, its the same author, roald dahl. Wrote both books that the films are from. Im from the uk, we grew up on these books as a child. X

This was one of my favorite movies growing up! The actress that plays the Trunchbull also played Aunt Marge in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. 😊 Also this is based on a book by Roald Dahl just like Willy Wonka was!

Also another fun fact, Paul Reubens, who played Pee-Wee, played the detective that was in the passenger seat looking through his binoculars.

The word 'Lilluputian' comes from the fantasy satire Gulliver's Travels. In its first part, Gulliver finds himself washed ashore and tied down to the island of Lilliput, where the people are less than six inches tall. So to call someone Lilliputian would be to call them very small, inversely, the word Brobdingnagian means to be extremely large in reference to the giant island Gulliver travelled to, Brobdingag, the use of Yahoo in a negative way also comes from the book. The same book also has the flying island of Laputa which Studio Ghibli used for Castle in the Sky

Yes!!!! I love this movie so much! And it's very heartwarming. The actress for Matilda, her mother was sick and dying during filming. Danny Devito and his wife took the girl in and got a quick cut of the movie put together so the girls mother could see it before she passed.

As a child, I was a lot like Matilda. My parents weren't terrible or would punish me for everything I did. They were the opposite of Matilda's parents. They loved that I was the only one out of my siblings to love reading and going to school. Even when I didn't need to go (like during vacations or summer), I'd HATE missing out on school for any reason. So, yeah.

Miss Honeys fathers portrait is actually of a young Roald Dahl

I'm just gonna say, out of the other three, Mrs. Wormwood was the best of that family. She wasn't great, but she just didn't understand her daughter, and was groomed to be worse than she would have been by her husband. She even hesitates a bit at the end. She was NOT a great person, but she had some empathy, better than the dad or the brother.

Fun fact: The portrait of Magnus is actually of Roald Dahl himself, and his wife was called Felicity Dahl, which is where they got the name Lici Doll from!

First off: at the time they filmed this, they actually were husband and wife. So what they did for the hat scene was put on a harness under the suit he's wearing, that connects to the hat, so when she tries to pull it off, he's holding it on with his whole body. So when you see her cutting the hat off in the next scene, she's actually cutting the wires from the harness off of the hat. The shot of the mom backflipping off the table wasn't her, it was a stunt double. And as for the cream tarts, what they did was set up miniature catapult seesaws, put a tart on one end on them, and essentially send them flying.

Roald Dahl wrote the books Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Willy Wonka, as you say it) as well as Matilda. That's why you see this as a Willy Wonka story.

in the book, Matilda really didn't need to use her powers anymore. it was explained that her powers came about because she wasn't being mentally stimulated enough so that when she finally got enough mental simulation, her powers were no longer needed and gradually disappeared. I highly recommend seeing Matilda: The Musical because it is spectacular!

Matilda is based of the book by Roald Dahl, truly one of the best adaptations of a kids book I love how all the kids are just good & support each other & its a feel good story about found family Pam Ferris, who played Trunchbull, is a really sweet woman irl, she also played the Dursley aunt in Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban It's always so funny watching 'Rosemary & Thyme' where she is a kind ex detective/gardener that solves crimes(its a fun little british whodunnit series) Danny DeVito & Rhea Purlman(the mum) are married irl & incredibly sweet people, who took care of Mara on set, most recently Rhea is the voice of Cid on Star Wars the bad batch, which is such a good show

Netflix did a musical version (based on the Broadway show) that was pretty good. Great music and choreography

Honestly, I’m loving all the Buffy comparisons lol 😂

There is a "Matilda Reunion" union video on RU-vid. You MUST watch it 😍

It was kinda funny to me how you kept saying it reminded you of willy wonka, since they come from the same author. Is roald dahl not as common for kids growing up in the US? Here in the UK it’s pretty much required reading, I actually think we spent an entire term learning about his life in primary school. This was always my favourite of his books as a kid, but I loved the BFG and the twits as well, and am probably still a little bit scarred by the witches lmao, his books were pretty formative to me for sure.

This movie is just a kid version of Carrie but with a happy ending😂

Looking back on this movie, I think it's really solid how Matilda's psychic powers only develop eventually. She's very smart and thirsty for learning from the getgo, but her psychic powers are something that only awakens when she has the need for them, and then she gives them up afterwards. That's awesome.

Matilda's mother appeared in the Barbie movie as a really important character! I recognised her immediately

The actress who played Ms. Trunchbull also played Harry Potter's aunt Marge in "Prisoner of Azkaban", as well as Sister Evangelina through series 5 of "Call the Midwife" and one of the titular characters in the series "Rosemary & Thyme".

Doesn't matter how old I get, I'll always love this movie. I especially remember the "Bruce, Bruce, Bruce" scene.

Yes that is Danny and the woman that plays his wife used to be his wife in real life. They were married from 1982 to 2017 I believe. Her name is Rhea Pearlman.

I always thought matilda was essentially 'Carrie' for kids. A young girl whose a good student with no friends, a crappy family and Telekinetic powers that she uses to get revenge after getting locked in a cupboard and meeting a nice teacher at school. Seriously in 10 years time she'll be burning down a school😂

Not only is Danny Devito in this movie, but his real life wife, Rhea Perlman, is playing his on-screen wife.

As a neglected kid that had to raise herself until i was adopted and practically lived in the library, this book and movie was my favorite.

Lilliputian - tiny, 6-inch tall people from Lilliput. It’s a reference from the book Gulliver’s Travels. (The opposite is Brobdingnagian - giant people from Brobdingnag.)

Lol. He says 'the force is strong with this one' before the whole telekinesis part came in.

I love this movie. Mara Wilson now is an audiobook narrator and plays a recurring character in Welcome to Nightvale ( a scripted podcast)

Amazing reaction to this gem! I’d really love to see you do a reaction to the musical film! One significant difference about Matilda’s powers in the book and stage adaption is that in the end she no longer has them. While Matilda believes the reason is that she has no need for them anymore, Miss Honey believes that her mind is now being more challenged in her schoolwork than it was before. 👩🏻👩🏼‍🦱📚🧠❤️🧡💛💚🩵💙💜🩷

Matilda is a book written by Roald Dahl. He also wrote Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The BFG, The Witches, James and the Giant Peach, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Twits, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, Esio Trot, and many more! This movie is a classic!

Danny DeVito is an underrated, brilliant, over the top, absurdist director. His Americanized adaptation of this story shouldn’t work, but incredibly, it manages to - and very well, at that. If you’re interested in checking out more of his filmography, I highly recommend Throw Momma from the Train, Death to Smoochy, and The War of the Roses. In that order.

Ms. Trunchbull also plays Uncle Vernon's sister in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. She is pretty good and being a terrible person. What a fabulous actress.

I loved this story as a kid and it didn’t scare me at all. It made me feel hopeful. I also shared it with my kids and it didn’t bother them either.

Another Roald Dahl classic adapted to film. There's a whole host of movies including The Witches, the BFG, Fantastic Mr Fox, Danny champion of the world, James and the giant peach. And probably his best known book, Willy Wonka and the chocolate factory which was later remade as Charlie and the chocolate factory. He was truly a magical author.

I’m 29 now and STILL remember the lines word for word. I watched it on repeat on VHS video back in the day😂

The reason you got a Willie-Wonka feeling from this movie, is because Matilda is based on a book by the same name, written by Roald Dahl, who also wrote Charlie and the Chocolate Factory =D

The Trunchbull was played by none other than Pam Ferris, aka Aunt Marge

The actress who portrayed Ms Trunchbull delivered it perfectly. I remember reading the book as a kid, and seeing her even as a child, i thought "yeah, that's definitely Trunchbull" lol

I remember checking out the audio book from the library when I was a kid. But after I was half way through my parents realized what I was listening to and told me to return it. I rechecked it out and smuggled it into the house and finished it. One of my few moments of disobedience.

I love the actress who plays Miss Trunchbull lol, I thought she did an amazing job portraying the character- wish I seen her in more movies- great acting skills.

the crazy thing is most people that play mean people on tv or in movies are really nice in rl.

a total childhood classic, watched this so many times as a kid.

"I'd be so proud if I had a daughter who did this" had me sobbing, I have one!!! She is completely book obsessed and it makes me ENDLESSLY proud (and a bit smug if I'm being completely honest 😂)

Whatching that scene with "Send me on my way" playing had so much impact on me as a child.. still one of my fav songs of all time

Recommend another Danny DeVito directed movie, the dark comedy, Death To Smoochy, starring Robin Williams and Edward Norton. Really darn funny!

It's been awhile since I've seen this movie, but I've seen it multiple times, and I legitimately never realized Matilda had a brother. How did I miss that?!? Lol.

The kid didn't eat all of it, but he still did have to eat a lot of it. In fact after they finally finished, he got sick to his stomach. I think what they basically did was have 4 to 5 different cakes, each with more cake missing, to make it look like he'd been eating it.

I used to love going to the library as a kid. One of my favorite places in the whole world.

I was one of those nerds that actually got excited for the Book Fair every year! Matilda is the GOAT

Watched it as a kid and wished I had her powers lol

Matilda is based on a book by Raul Dahl as was the two Willy Wonky books. Many of his stories have been adapted for the screen. You should check out The BFG (Big Friendly Giant)

"Lilliputian" is a reference to a story titled "Gulliver`s Travels" (1726) in which a man becomes stranded on an island populated by ludicrously small people (6" at most). There's two film adaptations: one from 1939 and a more recent 2010 starring Jack Black...

35:07 The term "Lilliputian" comes from the novel "Gulliver's Travels" by Jonathan Swift. It refers to the tiny residents of, well, Lilliput.

The librarian in me (for whom I earned an MLIS) started looking at you with starry eyes at the utterance of the comment "You can learn so much in a library." 🙂❤

Danny Devito & Rhea Perman (Matilda's parents are married in real life). Mara Wilson (Matilda) mother died of cancer during the making of this film.

such a good movie!! showing us that you don't have to stay with your family if they are abusive, they both got their found family in the end :')

GASP! I saw that you reacted to this childhood favorite while skimming through your Patreon (as I do once in a blue moon, just out of curiosity to see how far along you are in FRIENDS), and was so excited you've watched Matilda, but had no idea it would be publically shared this soon! I know what I'm watching tonight!!!

I'm so glad you appreciated, early on even, how good the Trunchbull's actress was. I didn't appreciate her performance as much as a kid, but when I rewatched it as a parent showing it to my kids I gained a true appreciation of that wonderfully over the top performance. It looked like she was having so much fun playing the roll. I'll admit, this movie is a guilty pleasure of mine that I throw on from time to time.

Out of all the movie villains, Ms Trunchbull was the one that legitimately terrified me as a kid. Maybe because other villains were cartoons were as Ms Trunchbull was very human.

Fun fact; the actress playing Trunchbull (Pat something, iirc) actually stayed in character a lot so the kids were genuinely terrified or at least they didn't have a hard time acting it. But apparently she's actually a lovely lady and the total opposite of Trunchbull, which would definitely make it hard if she were to be in and out of character constantly.

I love this movie. I’ve actually heard that it is a very comforting movie for many kids that came from neglectful/abusive households.

I'm 36 now and was 9 years old when this movie came out. I loved it from the first watch, and I never tire of seeing it. It's such a classic and I know it will continue to stand the test of time. Back then I was old enough to grasp the storyline, but certainly, as the years have passed I've realized not just how mean Trunchbull is, but what an absolute horrible person she is. She had no business working with children. I'm currently majoring in Child Development and I'm in awe at Matilda's resiliency considering her home life and the fact that her parents didn't love her. I'm glad she and Ms. Honey found each other. I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to birth any children of my own, but the idea of adopting a child has stayed with me ever since I first saw this movie.

A lilliputian is a tiny human species, from the book Gulliver's travels, which had several movie adaptations (1939, 1960, 1996 and 2010).

bruh i remember watching this movie back in 1857 B.C. when i was nine years old. Such good memories. This along with Harriet the Spy was among my faves.

The shot of her using her powers to pull a book off the shelf is actually a guy with a fishing pole pulling it off while laying on a skateboard.

35:00 A Lilliputian is from Gulliver's Travels, they're the little 6-inch people that tie the titular character down in the book's most famous scene.

Liilliputian are from a book called Gulliver’s travels. My hands are too to hold on a book so only suggests the 1979 cartoon that dealt with the Lilliputians chapter of the book

Lets also remember, Rhea and Danny are married in real life. She was also Carla on 'Cheers'. If you wanna show to just watch without a online audience, watch 'Cheers'. At least a season or two, because it is 11 seasons long lol ended when I was 4.

The Dahl's chickens quote is a reference to the BFG, another Dahl book

Matilda is one of my favorite childhood movies ♥I relate to her so much as someone who grew up in an abusive household.

watch me blow yalls minds ... the actress that played miss honey (embeth davidtz) is the same actress that plays Kalina in thirteen ghosts!

Fun fact though, Danny Devito directed this movie, also narratored it, it's also based on a novel as well, by the way this a classic movie, very nostalgic.

In the books she does lose her powers once she's put in a proper class and having to work to get her studies, so her "power" can't accumulate anymore.

35:04 - "Lilliputian" comes from the book, "Gulliver's Travels" by Jonathan Swift, and refers to the itty-bitty-teeny-tiny people from the island of "Liliput" who were only 6 inches tall.

Sorry if someone explained this already. Lilliputians are a reference to the book Gulliver's Travels. The Lilliputians are the people from the island of Lilliput, and they're all very tiny and thought Gulliver was a giant.

This is actually know we grew up in the 80s and early 90s. I swear I had a house key in Elementary school

0:32 - This movie is based on a book by Roald Dahl, the same author that brought us The Witches and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. 5:33 - I guess you missed the line, since it's not in the video. "When a PERSON is bad, that person needs to be taught a lesson." When a PERSON is bad, not a child. 9:55 - This is the first time I've considered it, but yeah, this story pretty much IS a G-rated version of Carrie. 15:55 - He's wearing a smock to protect his clothes while he re-dyes his hair. 35:00 - In the novel Gulliver's Travels, Gulliver's first destination is a nation called 'Lilliput,' in which all of the humans are approximately 6 inches high. People of Lilliput are called 'Lilliputians.' 38:46 - In the book, her powers disappeared after her life became happy, but DeVito decided the 'hardly ever' ending was better.

Mara said when she found out that robin Williams passed away she cried all day.

Check out the musical version of the film that came out more recently. It's based on the Broadway stage musical. The songs are by the very talented Tim Minchin.

The 90' was crazy, I was 6 years old, at that time at my public school you could buy a ticket so you could watch movies, like a cinema, and skip class, professors did that to make extra money, and this was completely acceptable. My parents never game money cause they want me to watch classes, so I secretly kept part of changes of lunch to buy tickets, I was kinda expensive so I was just able to go two or three times the 4 years I was there, this the most memorable movie not just from the school but from my childhood, I was really hard to save that money 😂. At least the sessions were dead quiet cause they kicked you out if you talk, and no one wanted to lose money and go back to classes.