Hello and happy Saturday. I’m still not done with the book I’ve been reading for weeks now, but I’ll tell you the reasons why when I post a review. For now, I want to tell you about the newest movie adaptation of Matilda, which I started watching on January 1st, in a hostel in a foreign city, eating Domino’s pizza after a date. (Michael, if you’re reading this, I want you to know that you’re a great kisser.)

I grew up watching the 1996 movie adaptation of Matilda and I read the novel by Roald Dahl a few years ago, and I think that those two go really well together. The 2022 movie adaptation…I liked it, okay? But I didn’t love it and I think that if you’re going to watch it, you need to consider it as a piece of its own, not a movie or a musical based on a novel.

Visually, it was amazing. I loved the colors and how everything was big and bright, and I obviously loved the musical aspect of the movie. Plot-wise, I’ve already said it, you can call this a movie inspired by a book, but not an adaptation in the way that most of us understand the concept. A lot of the original plot was omitted or scenes were presented in a different order; new characters were introduced, which in my opinion made some of the original characters lose the “spotlight.”

Should you watch it? I think so, even if it’s just for academic purposes. But do yourself a favor and also watch the original movie adaptation and read the book.