MATILDA

Matilda Wormwood (Mara Wilson) is an incredibly brilliant child born to crass and
ignorant parents. Her father Harry (Danny DeVito), a crooked car salesman, and her
mother Zinnia (Rhea Perlman), a dim-witted Bingo enthusiast, ignore their daughter
constantly and, despite her pleas, do not enroll her in school. Left home alone all day,
young Matilda makes frequent trips to the library for mental stimulation. She develops a
love for reading, and for knowledge in general.

Matilda's intelligence does not impress her father, who interprets it as "being a
smart-aleck." After being unfairly punished once too often, Matilda plays a stealthy
string of practical jokes on Harry (including swapping his hair oil with bleaching
peroxide, and gluing his hat to his head). After a particularly nasty outburst from Harry,
Matilda stares at the television in anger until it explodes. Confused by the phenomenon,
she shakes it off.

A disgruntled Harry finally enrolls Matilda in Crunchum Hall Elementary, after the
principal becomes a customer at his dealership. Miss Agatha Trunchbull (Pam Ferris),
the headmistress, is an enormous, intimidating, and brutal woman with a passionate
hatred for children. Matilda arrives at her first day of kindergarten and befriends two
students, Hortensia and Lavender, who warn her of Miss Trunchbull's violent habits.
The student body witnesses Trunchbull, an ex-Olympian, perform a "human
hammerthrow," and fling a little girl over a nearby fence by her pigtails. Despite the
initial horrors of Crunchum Hall, Matilda's teacher Miss Honey (Embeth Davitz) is a kind
and gentle woman, and Matilda is praised for her intelligence for the first time.

Miss Honey speaks with Matilda's parents at their house and attempts to
convince them of their daughter's brilliance. They rebuff her rudely, but she is not
dissuaded from finding intellectual stimulation for Matilda. The next day at school, Miss
Trunchbull once again demonstrates her cruelty. Calling all the students to a special
assembly, she devises a public punishment for a boy called Bruce Bogtrotter who had
allegedly stolen cake from the school kitchen. Trunchbull forces him to eat an enormous
cake in one sitting, and is furious when he manages to succeed without getting sick.
She gives the whole student body a five-hour detention.

The next day, Miss Trunchbull's car breaks down and she takes her anger out on
Matilda, simply because she is Mr. Wormwood's daughter. Matilda is put in the Chokey,
a small closet in Trunchbull's office studded with nails on the inside, forcing its
inhabitant to stand poker-straight. Miss Honey's class prepares for a lecture from the
headmistress, who visits classrooms sporadically to intimidate the children up close.
Matilda's friend Lavender gets revenge on Trunchbull by hiding a newt in the water
pitcher on the teachers desk. While Miss Trunchbull menaces the students, Miss Honey
rescues Matilda from the Chokey and brings her back to class. After Trunchbull drinks a
glass of water she spots the newt, causing her to have an uncharacteristically childish
panic attack when she sees it. She instantly blames Matilda for the newt in the glass.
Matilda is furious and, using the same angry energy from the television explosion,
manages to tip the glass over with her eyes, sending the newt flying onto Trunchbull.
Trunchbull blames Matilda again but Miss Honey points out that Matilda had never left
her seat. After the disgruntled headmistress leaves, Matilda tells Miss Honey that she
had indeed tipped the glass over using her eyes. She cannot repeat the phenomenon in
the moment, but Matilda knows she has a strange mental power that had also caused
her parents' television to explode. Matilda and Miss Honey soon form a bond, and
Matilda is invited over for tea after school. Miss Honey lives in a tiny cottage, and tells
Matilda the story of her childhood: She had once lived in a beautiful mansion (which
they had passed on the walk from school), where Miss Trunchbull now lives. Miss
Honey's mother had died early on, and her father invited his wife's stepsister
(Trunchbull) to look after the house and his daughter. Miss Trunchbull, not surprisingly,
was cruel to her niece. A few years later, Miss Honey's father mysteriously died, and his
death was ruled a suicide.

Miss Honey walks Matilda home, and they pass Trunchbull's house once again.
Matilda suggests they go in and retrieve Miss Honeys beloved childhood doll, as they
saw Miss Trunchbull getting into her car and preparing to leave. Miss Honey tries to
dissuade Matilda, but the girl dashes into the house leaving Miss Honey with no choice
but to follow her. They explore the house briefly, with Miss Honey experiencing
nostalgia from her childhood, but are terrified when they hear Miss Truchbull re-enter.
Her car (purchased from Harry Wormwood) broke down on the driveway, and as she
bellows to him over the phone she senses something awry. Matilda and Miss Honey
desperately evade Truchbull as she tears through the hallways searching for the
intruders, and escape from the house just in time. Out of breath and terrified, Miss
Honey makes Matilda promise to never enter the house again.

Harry is being secretly followed by two undercover agents (Paul Reubens and
Tracey Walter) due to his shady methods of restoring shoddy used cars, such as
reversing the mile counter with a drill and attaching bumpers with superglue. Agents
Bob and Bill lurk in a car outside the Wormwood house, snapping incriminating photos
of Harry. Meanwhile, Matilda discovers that her telekinetic powers work when
channeling her anger towards her family. She uses this knowledge to practice her
telekinesis, and soon becomes adept enough to move objects quickly and easily from a
good distance away. Matilda buys some extra time for her father by stealing the agents'
evidence tape and disposing of it.

Matilda resolves to return to Trunchbull's house and retrieve Miss Honey's doll.
On a stormy night, she climbs onto Trunchbull's garage roof and begins to move items
inside the house in order to scare the superstitious woman. Matilda transports the doll
out of a window, and escapes. A horrified Miss Trunchbull seeks refuge in her car, but
discovers Matilda's red hair ribbon (blown off during the storm). She brings it to school
the following day, and menaces Miss Honey's class to a new degree. Matilda finally
demonstrates her powers to Miss Honey, and uses them to write a message on the
blackboard which the children read in eerie unison. The message appears to be from
the ghost of Miss Honey's father, demanding that Trunchbull give his daughter back her
house and rightful possessions. It is suggested that he was, in fact, murdered by Miss
Trunchbull long ago. When Trunchbull is sufficiently frightened, Matilda uses her powers
to battle Miss Trunchbull by pummeling her with flying classroom equipment. The
broken-down and horrified headmistress flees the school forever and is pelted with food
by the entire student body.

Some time later, Matilda is visiting Miss Honey, who lives in her childhood home
once again. The Wormwoods suddenly arrive and (with sirens in the background) say
they are immediately moving to Guam and demand that Matilda get in the car. Matilda
resists and produces adoption papers, begging to be allowed to stay with Miss Honey.
Miss Honey defends Matilda and agrees. Matilda's mother finally shows remorse for her
treatment of her daughter, and signs the papers to grant her a better life. The
Wormwoods leave forever.

Eventually, Miss Honey is named the new principal of Crunchum Hall

Elementary. She and Matilda start a new life together, with Matilda only using her
telekinesis for small tasks like removing a book from a shelf.