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Matilda (USA, 1996)

Director: Danny DeVito

Cast: Mara Wilson, Danny DeVito, Rhea Perlman

The plot: A comedy based on Roal Dahl's book of the same title. Six-year-old Matilda (Wilson) is gifted with wondrous intelligence but is being raised by indifferent parents (DeVito, Perlman) who don't recognize her abilities and promise. She is eventually allowed to go to school in the ominous Crunchem Hall, a private institution ruled by the horrible Miss Trunchbull. There however, Matilda's talents are finally dicovered by her classroom teacher, the appropriately named Miss Honey.

Note: Danny DeVito plays a sleazy, unscrupulous used-car salesman, at one point plotting to sell a 1961-62 Plymouth Valiant.