Review: Matilda - Roald Dahl

"So Matilda's strong young mind continued to grow, nurtured by the voices of all those authors who had sent their books out into the world like ships on the sea. These books gave Matilda a hopeful and comforting message: You are not alone."

Matilda is the world's most famous bookworm, no thanks to her ghastly parents.

Her father thinks she's a little scab. Her mother spends all afternoon playing bingo.

And her headmistress, Miss Trunchbull?

She's the worst of all.

She's a big bully, who thinks all her pupils are rotten and locks them in the dreaded Chokey.

Despite these beastly grownups trying to push her down, Matilda is an extraordinary girl with a magical mind.

And she's had enough.

So all the terrible adults had better watch out, because she's going to teach them a lesson they'll never forget!

Visit Roald Dahl's website for more information

Review:
I was a huge Roald Dahl fan as a child, I think I had nearly all of his books and they were stories I'd read over and over again so it's very hard for me to be objective about them now as an adult. It's funny because on the surface Matilda should have been my favourite of his books - its about a little girl who loves reading and spending time in the library which was totally me as a child and if I'm honest still describes me now LOL - but I think my heart had already been stolen by the BFG and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory so I only read this one a handful of times. It wasn't until the movie released that I really started to appreciate this story and it's impossible to reread this now as an adult without picturing Mara Wilson as Matilda.

There's just something special about all of Roald Dahl's books but Matilda really is one of his most well loved characters and there's a very good reason for that. She's an intelligent child who doesn't fit in at home and whose parents definitely don't appreciate her but she finds a magical place when she discovers the local library and teaches herself to read. Her love of books and reading is something all bookworms will appreciate but I also love her constant search for knowledge and her excitement about getting to attend school for the first time.

The relationship she develops with her teacher Miss Honey is heartwarming and desperately needed after we've seen how badly she is treated by her parents. Then of course there is the terrifying headmistress Mrs Trunchbull who runs her school more like a prison until Matilda dishes out some much deserved punishment of her own.

I loved revisiting this story and I think I appreciated it so much more now that I'm an adult. The movie will always hold a special place in my heart but now the book does too. It's hard to believe that this story is 30 years old this year and I absolutely love the newly updated covers designed by the original illustrator Quentin Blake. His drawings throughout the book add so much to the story and I love the way he's imagined some of the exciting jobs that Matilda could have chosen for the new anniversary editions. I'm very, very tempted to collect the set but I'm not sure my already straining book cases can take the pressure.

Matilda as Chief Executive of the British Library, a World Traveller or an Astrophysicist on the new 30th Anniversary Hardbacks.

And just because I can here's the movie trailer!



Source: Purchased

Other reviews of this book:
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Paperback / Kindle / 30th Anniversary Hardbacks:

Roald Dahl Day: My love for The BFG (Let's talk about the book and the movies!)

Every year I plan to write a blog post to celebrate Roald Dahl Day and every year time runs away with me and I somehow end up missing it. But this year we're celebrating 100 years since his birth so I guess that makes it a perfect time to talk about how much Roald Dahl's books meant to me as a child.

I used to reread all of his books over and over again but The BFG was always my favourite, I just loved everything about it from the friendship that forms between Sophie and the BFG, to the adventures they have together along with all of the crazy new words you discover along the way. Don't you just think that we should use words like scrumdiddlyumptious, gobblefunking and whiffswiddle in every day conversation? Not to mention the fact that I'm still waiting for someone to invent a real life version of frobscottle so I can practise my whizzpopping LOL.

The BFG is just the ultimate adventure story, I loved the idea of dreams being real things that you could capture and I desperately wanted to visit the land of dreams so I could find my own. I wanted a giant friend who could run so fast with me hiding in their pocket that it felt like I was flying and I even wanted to have breakfast with the Queen. Roald Dahl's stories always have a darker side to them and the giants terrified me but you get to see justice served in the end which was incredibly satisfying.

I still have my original copy of this book from 1985 and it's one of my most treasured and reread books. The illustrations by Quentin Blake compliment the story perfectly and make it something to be treasured.

My brother was never much of a reader (I'm pretty convinced he must be a changeling because surely we can't be related! LOL) but he absolutely adored the animated version of The BFG and would make us watch it over and over again. I think I've probably seen this adaptation of the story even more times than I've read the book and I have to say it's pretty perfect. It completely captures the feel of the story with it's laugh out loud humour but also the more heartwarming moments between Sophie and the BFG as well as the fearsome man eating giants to add tension. I love the music too and can remember singing along with my brother when he we were kids.

This animation may have been created in 1989 but it's still utterly brilliant and when we watched it with my 12 year old nephew a few months ago he loved it just as much as we did.

Being such a huge fan of the story I had incredibly high hopes for the new Disney version directed by Steven Spielberg. We made a family outing of it a few weeks ago and I think my Dad, brother and I were probably even more excited than my nephew was. There is no denying that the visual effects in the new movie are stunning, the land of dreams in particular was spectacular and the giants looked impressive.

The opening scene where Sophie first sees the BFG and the way he manages to sneak down the streets and avoid being spotted by anyone else was very cleverly done. The young actress who played Sophie did a brilliant job and there was one moment in particular that made me laugh so hard I had tears rolling down my face. I wasn't the only one either and pretty much the entire audience was laughing hysterically.

Unfortunately even though there were things I loved about the movie it didn't manage to live up to expectations and we all agreed that the animated version that is nearly 30 years old was better. The new movie stays pretty faithful to the book but it managed to be boring in spite of that, there were actually times when I was just wishing it was over so we could leave the cinema and no matter how good the graphics were or how humourous those few stand out moments were it just didn't make up for the poor pacing.

The new movie may have been a slight disappointment but that hasn't decreased my love of The BFG. I have so many happy childhood memories wrapped up in reading Roald Dahl stories and it's easy to see why they're still so popular today.

Digitally remastered trailer for the original animated movie made in 1989:



Trailer for the 2016 Disney & Steven Spielberg movie:



What is your favourite Roald Dahl book? Are you a fan of The BFG? I'd love to know what you thought of the movies, if you've seen them both which was your favourite?