Everyone is familiar with Matilda (1996). Matilda is a little girl that gets little attention at home. She’s very intelligent and often goes to the library to read books and learn. Her parents are unsupportive of her “book obsession” as they work as cheats to make easy money. Eventually, Matilda’s parents figure out how old their daughter is and send her to school. At school, she meets a teacher, Miss Honey, whom Matilda is very fond of and learns a lot from. Matilda finally gets to make some friends too. Unfortunately, the school’s headmaster, Miss. Trunchbull, despises children but still runs a school, a school to make the students’ lives miserable. Matilda soon learns of her telekinetic powers and uses them to benefit herself, and her classmates to get rid of the “Bull”. The plot of Matilda the Musical is similar. There’s a super smart girl, her parents don’t acknowledge her, she goes to school, she meets Miss Honey, she learns about Miss Trunchbull, and starts fighting to be free from the Bull.

The movie Matilda, released in 1996, was directed by Danny Devito. It begins with Matilda being born and instantly, her parents complain about how much work and how expensive having a child is, even though they already have a son. Once they were back home, they left Matilda inside the car while the three went inside. It later cuts to show how “special” and smart Matilda has been since she was born. It is ignored by her parents, as she is viewed as different from her family. By the time she was two, Matilda could take care of herself and when she was left alone, she spent the time reading magazines and books. Matilda is sent to Crunchem Hall Elementary School where their motto is “children are maggots”. Matilda later goes to class where she meets Miss Honey. Miss Honey is Matilda’s teacher who is very kind and tries to educate her class the best she can. Miss Honey is amazed by Matilda’s intelligence and brings it to Miss Trunchbull’s, the headmaster of the school, attention. Miss Trunchbull instantly denies Miss Honey’s claim, saying that all children are idiots.She is known for her cruelty and all-children-are-stupid attitude. The main punishment was the Chokey in the movie. It is a small casket-like box with spikes throughout it. A scene that stood out in both films was Bruce’s chocolate cake scene. Bruce was caught eating Miss Trunchbull’s cake, so for his punishment, he was forced to eat the whole thing. During this scene, the students begin chanting “Bruce, Bruce, Bruce…” as he finishes the whole cake.

In the movie, Miss Honey’s life is told differently as well. Matilda finds out that Miss Trunchbull is Miss Honey’s aunt. Matilda also learns that Miss Trunchbull’s house and money all belong to Miss Honey. Miss Trunchbull angered Matilda so much that it helped awaken telekinesis powers where her revenge plot began. While Miss Trunchbull was yelling at Matilda, she was able to use ability to throw a newt at her. This later advanced to Matilda scaring and trashing her house. She uses chalk to threaten Miss Trunchbull as if Miss Honey’s dad was the one writing it. As if his ghost is coming back to haunt her. She threw and spun Miss Trunchbull around until she ran away with fear. Miss Honey got her things back and everyone celebrated the banishment of the Bull.

The Netflix film released in 2022, Matilda the Musical, was directed by Matthew Warchus. The first scene shows many families joyful about their newborns but the scene turns to Matilda’s parents. They sing a song with lyrics like “why do bad things always happen to good people…” after Matilda was born. Since her dad wanted a son, he often referred to Matilda as “he” and “boy”, as shown when they found out she was supposed to be going to school.The two films have the same motto, “children are maggots”’. Matilda later goes to class where she meets Miss Honey. Miss Honey is Matilda’s teacher who is very kind and tries her best to educate her students. Miss Honey is impressed by Matilda’s intelligence and brings it to Miss Trunchbull’s attention. Miss Trunchbull instantly turns Miss Honey’s claim down saying that all children are stupid. Miss Trunchbull is the headmaster of the school. She is known for her cruelty and punishments she has “misbehaving” children go through. Both of these characters are similar in both films. The main form of punishment in the film was her Physical Ed course and of course the chokey, similar to the movie. A scene that stood out in both films was Bruce’s chocolate cake scene. Bruce was busted for eating Miss Trunchbull’s cake, so for his punishment, he was forced to eat the whole thing. During this scene, the cast sings a song doubting but encouraging Bruce to finish the whole cake. When he does, it is jumped to him wearing a fat suit, which was quite funny.

In the musical, Miss Honey’s life is told differently. Her life is told through a story that Matilda shares throughout the musical. In her story, she talks about the beginning of a happy couple, about to have a child but there is an obstacle in the way. It is told that Miss Honey’s property and money were also taken by Miss Trunchbul,l and that is where the plot begins to change. When Miss Trunchbull called a meeting for Matilda’s class, they were put under pressure for a spelling bee. If you get it a word wrong, you get thrown into the chokey. Since Miss Honey taught them how to spell, they were doing great until Miss Trunchbull had enough. She reveals that she made enough chokeys to throw every kid in, but before she could do that, Matilda stopped her. With her telekinesis, she smashed all the chokeys and made it seem like Miss Honey’s dad was back to get her since the musical is told as if Miss Trunchbull kills him. She uses the chalk to write out a message, threatening Miss Trunchbull to give everything back to Miss Honey,or else. After that, all the children came together and celebrated the kicking out of the Bull.