The Revolting Children Are Our Future in Netflix’s Winning Adaptation of ‘Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical’

If they are not taught well, will they be able to lead the way? How children should be raised has been a topic of debate since, well, the beginning of time, and Netflix’s adaptation of the Tony Award winning musical, Matilda The Musical, proves that having an open heart can change your mind, body, and soul. Led by Alisha Weir’s spunky as the magical girl who stands up for what’s right, the streaming studio has a sneaky winner on its hands.

Some parents can hide their frustrations with having a child, but Mr. and Mrs. Wormwood let everyone know that they do not like their daughter. Mr. Wormwood refers to her as a boy, and, when she was in the hospital about to give birth, Mrs. Wormwood denied she was even pregnant–bulging belly aside. Matilda spends as much time as she can away from her small attic bedroom by visiting a traveling library. “It’s like a holiday in your head,” Matilda says about why she loves reading.

When it’s discovered that Matilda has never been to a proper school, she is excited to finally attend, but those dreams are dashed when she arrives at Crunchem, a drab, grey, prison where kids are under the thumb of Miss Trunchbull. Embodied by a deliciously fiendish Emma Thompson, Trunchbull will swing you by your pigtails if you dare wear pigtails in the first place (she’s not a fan), or her heavy hand will come slapping down if you step one toe out of line. Matilda’s only adult ally comes in the delicate lightness of Miss Honey, Matilda’s teacher who recognizes Matilda’s many gifts almost immediately.

Directed by Matthew Warchus (who also helmed the stage production) the film hones in on how imagination can quite literally come alive and inspire. The Broadway production was lauded for how literary the adaptation was from the source material (it won the Tony Award for Book of a Musical), and it’s rather heartwarming to see how this iteration encourages reading and exploring the realms of your mind. You do not have to solely be brainy or brawny when Matilda learns that she can use one asset to strengthen the other.

Warchus engages us with a lot of these musical numbers. “When I Grow Up” captures the longing of becoming bigger while fearing leaving childhood behind. In “Quiet,” Weir looks directly into the camera in the first half of the song, and it locks you in immediately. “The Smell of Rebellion,” sung by Trunchbull, is a classic villain calling card, and Thompson sounds fantastic on it. I love how Warchus stages the numbers in the school to look like prison bars, and there is even a nod to Hitchcock’s The Birds when children are collected on a jungle gym.

There is a grounded ridiculousness that Thompson brings to Trunchbull that taps into how bullies are usually one track minded. The character was written decades ago, but Thompson sneers and dominates the screen in a way that it recalls the dangerous baboonery of people who need royally taken down a peg. As Miss Honey, Lashana Lynch glows. Every time she is on screen, she brings a sweet gentleness that lights a fire under the audience as well as Weir’s title character. With this performance and The Woman King, we are quickly understand how vast Lynch’s range is, and her and Weir sounds fantastic on the new closing number. Andrea Riseborough, as Mrs. Wormwood, shouldn’t go unnoticed, though. With her hair teased to high heaven and dressed in and dressed in garish colors (from costume designer Rob Howell), she knows the assignment.

By inviting young audiences to use their imaginations, they will get drawn into Matilda‘s catchy songs and determined lead. Children shouldn’t be underestimated or counted out. After all, they are the future, and they deserve one made on their own terms. Matilda the Musical is a winning, powerful burst of energy with cheeky, naughty verve to spare.

Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical debuts on Netflix in December 25.