Matilda (1996)

Most people think so. 84% of audiences gave it a thumbs up, by Google's archived audience score. Critics agree, scoring it 82%.

Matilda Wormwood is an brilliant and intelligent little girl. Unfortunately, her parents, Harry and Zinnia, fail to see that fact. As time passes, she finally starts school and has a kind teacher, loyal friends, and a terrifying, sadistic headmistress. As she becomes fed up with the constant cruelty, she discovers she has a special gift that she just might be able to use to outwit the unruly adults around her. Wikipedia ↗

Matilda is a 1996 American fantasy comedy directed by Danny DeVito, based on Roald Dahl's 1988 novel. Mara Wilson stars as Matilda Wormwood, a preternaturally intelligent little girl born to parents, played by Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman, who are spectacularly ill-suited for parenthood — her father is a dishonest used car dealer who considers reading a waste of time, and her mother is a bingo-addicted airhead who finds Matilda's intelligence annoying. When Matilda discovers she has telekinetic powers and enters the nightmarish school run by the monstrous headmistress Miss Trunchbull, played by Pam Ferris, she uses her gifts to defend herself and her classmates while finding a genuine maternal figure in her kind-hearted teacher Miss Honey, played by Embeth Davidtz.

Danny DeVito's direction captured Dahl's trademark blend of childhood empowerment fantasy and gleeful cruelty with infectious energy. Pam Ferris's Trunchbull — a hulking, shot-put-throwing tyrant who throws children by their pigtails and locks them in spiked closets — was one of cinema's most entertainingly terrifying villains. Matilda earned $33 million worldwide on a $36 million budget but became a massive home video success.