Streaming: Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical and the best adaptations of classic children’s books
The common wisdom that “the book is usually better than the film” is as true of children’s literature as of its adult counterpart: cinema is stacked with adaptations of children’s classics that may be perfectly proficient, but haven’t the inspired individuality of the works at their source.
Devotees of Roald Dahl have learned this a lot over the years. His offbeat humour and offhand storytelling style, so irresistible to kids, rarely translates all the way to screen — it’s thwarted such titans as Steven Spielberg, who whiffed with (Netflix), though Wes Anderson’s droll succeeded by (Amazon Prime), notwithstanding a simplified, studio-mandated happy ending.
