Why You Should Revisit Matilda (1996)

Though Matilda came out in 1996, it is still considered a fan-favorite by many. It wasn’t just audience members who fell in love with the tale based on Roald Dahl’s beloved work of the same name: critics praised the film for its progressive outlook on various issues. Whether you caught the movie in theaters in the 1990s or have never experienced it before, here are the top reasons Matilda is worth a watch today:

The Good Guys Could Use a Win

Times are tough. It seems like the rich just keep getting richer and the poor just keep getting poorer. With the increasing wealth disparity in our world and countless refugee crises across the globe, it can be refreshing to imagine a world where the simple innocence of a young girl can win out against an oppressive system.

The film follows Matilda, a young child who has anything but an easy life. Her parents are neglectful and involved in illegal activity, and her school principal bullies the students ruthlessly. Even worse, Matilda is treated as an outsider by those around her for her incredible intelligence and tendency to choose the world of books over reality.

When Matilda eventually discovers that she has telekinetic powers, she uses her new-found super ability to better her life by shedding herself of the toxic individuals that surround her.

Matilda faces many challenges, including her own abusive parents and the tyrannical headmistress of her school, and in the end she triumphs against those who would seek to keep her down. It’s an underdog story we need more of in the real world today.

Girls Rule in Matilda

During the time, it wasn’t very common for a film to focus on a girl whose interests didn’t center on boys or pretty dresses. Matilda was a landmark film in its portrayal of a young girl whose life was not filled with just pleasant things but dealt with complex issues such as abuse, injustice and inequality.

People today likely take these stories of female empowerment for granted, and many might even roll their eyes at what they deem “virtue signaling” with things like the all-female reboots of Ghostbusters, but Matilda is a genuinely great story that gets feminism right. It’s not force-fed to the audience, and it came out 20 years before Furiosa kicked butt in Fury Road.

Matilda’s confidence in her ability to become a strong individual even with the many obstacles in her life is the female empowerment that stood out in both the 90s and today. In many ways the simple, authentic take really makes the story work and hit home for a lot of women, whether they had telekinetic powers growing up or not.

The Life Lessons Are Aplenty

The fact that Matilda leads a rather difficult life leads to her learning a long list of life lessons that resonate with all viewers of the past and present. As Matilda’s family is not appreciative of her, she is forced to find her own family, as she does with friends at her new school.

Matilda promoted the idea that letting go of toxic people, even those like family, leads to a healthier and happier life. It’s a pretty incredible lesson for such a young girl to learn, and one that even many adults struggle with.

Even more amazing is the fact that Matilda could have easily used her new-found power for purely evil acts against all of those individuals in her life, but she doesn’t give into vengeful rage. Rather, Matilda opts to use her powers to protect her classmates at school against their corrupt principle, ultimately leading to replacing this evil individual with a good one.

This lesson of overcoming evil with acts of good is beneficial to both individuals and the world as a whole.

Matilda Made Reading Super Cool

Matilda’s biggest passion is heading to the library to escape in a world of books. Though her parents ridicule her for the desire to read over watching TV, she sticks by her passion, which assists her on her path to overcoming the difficulties in her life.

Matilda made reading look cool, something that not many children’s movies bothered to portray at the time. Matilda took her ‘book nerd’ status and wore it as a badge of honor, which led to success at school and with one of her teachers, Miss Honey. In a contemporary world that is filled to the brim with technology and social media, the film acts as a great message to not forgot the benefits of reading to broaden the mind.

Go Watch Matilda!

Matilda stands out as much today as it did when it first came out for its progressive nature that promotes a variety of topics, including female empowerment, self-confidence, and the pursuit of a healthy environment.