Plot
In a hospital, Mrs Wormwood gives birth to Matilda, who grows into a sweet child who loves reading, despite the neglect of her parents. The authorities discover that Matilda has not been properly schooled, and teacher Miss Jennifer Honey suggests Matilda be sent to Crunchem Hall. Angry about being fined for not sending his daughter to school, Mr Wormwood tells Crunchem Hall’s tyrannical headmistress, Miss Agatha Trunchbull, that Matilda is a horrible child. In retaliation, Matilda mixes green hair dye into his hair tonic.
Arriving at school, Matilda and fellow new student Lavender are warned about the terrible way the students are treated. In Miss Honey's classroom, Matilda solves a complex mathematical equation on the board left there from a class for adults. An impressed Miss Honey asks Trunchbull to move Matilda to a class with older children, but Trunchbull refuses to let Matilda be an exception to the rules. At home, when Matilda criticises her father, he rips her library book apart; the next day, she retaliates by putting glue in his hat.
The children explain Trunchbull's preferred method of punishment to be the Chokey, a spiked cupboard. During lunch, Trunchbull accuses Matilda of stealing a slice of her chocolate cake, but Bruce Bogtrotter accidentally reveals he is the culprit by belching. Trunchbull forces Bruce to eat the entire cake, saying he will be forgiven if he eats it all. Bruce succeeds, but Trunchbull goes against her word and takes him to Chokey anyways. Afterwards, Matilda's classmates sing about their hopes for the future.
After school, Matilda tells a story to Mrs. Phelps about a pregnant acrobat and escapologist who are forced to perform a dangerous stunt by the acrobat's stepsister; she is horribly injured and dies after giving birth to a daughter. The escapologist doesn't blame the stepsister and asks her to help him raise his daughter, but she is cruel to the girl. When the escapologist discovers his daughter locked in the cellar, he comforts her before leaving to confront the stepsister, but never returns.
The next day, Trunchbull forces the children through challenging exercises to crush their rebelliousness. Lavender slips her pet newt, Isaac, into Trunchbull's drinking water, causing her distress. Right before Trunchbull punishes another student, Matilda stands up to her and tells her to stop. This enrages Trunchbull and causes her to shout at Matilda, who then uses her newly-discovered telekinesis to hurl a cup at Trunchbull's head. Trunchbull, frightened by Isaac, runs away.
Afterwards, Miss Honey invites Matilda to her cottage, where Matilda learns that the story she had been telling Mrs. Phelps that she had thought she made up was actually the true story of Miss Honey's life and the escapologist and the acrobat were Miss Honey's parents, and the evil stepsister is Trunchbull. Outraged, Matilda goes to the Chokey and uses her telekinesis to destroy it. At home, Matilda learns that her father has cheated the local Mafia and that her family will be fleeing to Spain.
When the children return to school, Trunchbull forces Miss Honey's class to spell words correctly or be punished in a rebuilt Chokey. She has Lavender spell a made-up word, prompting the other children to purposely misspell words in rebellion. Trunchbull then reveals that she built a multitude of new Chokeys for every last child to be put in. Matilda uses her telekinesis to write on a blackboard pretending to be the ghost of the escapologist. She tells her to give Miss Honey back her house or else. When Trunchbull refuses, Matilda throws her out of the school with her telekenesis. Miss Honey tells Trunchbull never to return to the school and takes back the keys to her father's house, as well as the keys to the school. After Trunchbull runs away, the students celebrate their freedom from Trunchbull's rule by destroying Trunchbull's statue and Lavender reclaims Isaac from Miss Trunchbull's office.
Mr and Mrs Wormwood arrive to take Matilda to Spain with them, but Miss Honey offers to take care of Matilda which the Wormwoods allow and Matilda happily accepts. With Miss Honey as the new headmistress, the school is renovated and improved, much to the delight of the students while Miss Honey and Matilda appreciate each other's help.
