Family Friendly Fare: Matilda the Musical & Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

2023 is upon us but if you do not want to watch anything too heavy and dour, here are two cheery options to throw on your movie watchlist.

Matilda the Musical: I got to see the musical on Broadway several years ago, and it was a rather delightful piece of set design and choreography. Which is what this movie also has to offer, with plenty of whirling dance numbers, and gorgeous production design. And of course, there are those lyrics by Tim Minchin, with rude and hilarious songs that the children sing with much gusto. If you like puns and wordplay, this is the musical for you.

Alisha Weir plays the wunderkind Matilda, an enormously smart little girl who is afflicted with enormously negligent and stupid parents. When she gets sent to Crunchem Hall, an enormously cruel school, she is fortunate enough to land in the first-grade classroom of Miss Honey, a compassionate and loving teacher who immediately spots what a bright girl Matilda is. Unfortunately, Miss Honey is no match for Agatha Trunchbull, the despotic headmistress who absolutely despises children, and what follows is a twisty tale where the children must fight back against the adults and intelligence and kindness have to battle against foolishness and evil. 

Fans of the original 1988 novel by Roald Dahl, or the 1996 movie starring Mara Wilson, may have their quibbles about various changes made to the original source material. But this is a musical and it's meant to be a bit more heightened and wild. The inclusion of Lashana Lynch as Miss Honey is wonderful, while Emma Thompson is having a great deal of fun swanning around the school and being perfectly hideous as the evil Miss Trunchbull. I will confess, I am still too partial to the 1996 movie, and no chocolate cake is ever going to beat the one that Brucie has to eat in that iteration. But if all you want is to sink into the couch and watch some children sing silly songs and wreak a plot of vengeance against a truly odious woman, you cannot go wrong with this film.

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish: This movie is truly excellent, no matter what age you are. My cousins and boyfriend were discussing it and trying not to spoil it for me (as I hadn't seen it at the time) and all they could vaguely say was "it has so many themes!" And now that I have watched it, I can concur. So many themes!

This is the story of Puss in Boots (still voiced with swagger by Antonio Banderas), who is now down to his ninth and final life. He is on the run from Death (yes, Death is literally a character in this film, so think carefully about what conversations you want to have with any young kids you to take to see it) and finds himself in a home for rescue cats, where a scrawny dog (disguised as a cat), Perrito (voiced delightfully by Harvey Guillen), takes a liking to him. When he then discovers that Goldilocks and the Three Bears, who here are a crime family straight out of a Guy Ritchie movie, are seeking a map to the Wishing Star, Puss realizes this could be his chance to get more lives. So he decides to head out on this adventure to find this star, only to encounter fellow thief and one-time (and perhaps once-again?) love interest Kitty Softpaws (charmingly voiced by Salma Hayek). 

This is a movie about the importance of friendship, living in the present, asking for help, not running away from your problems, loving your family, having a good conscience...I could go on and on. The fairytale characters that pop in and out are hilarious, always slightly subverting what you expect from them in some ways and then completely living up to the stereotype in other ways. The animation is beautiful, and of course you will get to see Puss and Kitty (and Perrito, to some extent) do their best cute, pleading, big eyes to warm the stone-cold embers of your heart. It's a sweet movie that is bound to impart a lesson that immediately speaks to some aspect of your life that you've been neglecting. I don't know how much kids are expected to get out of this film, but adults are in for an emotional and fulfilling ride.