Summary

• Danny DeVito's dual-casting in Matilda as both Harry Wormwood and the narrator creates confusion about who's telling the story.
• Danny DeVito's recognizable voice as the narrator and Harry Wormwood is a distracting element.
• DeVito's involvement in Matilda could have been better if he had chosen to play one character instead of two unrelated personas.

While I still think 1996's Matilda cast, led by Mara Wilson as the title character, did an incredible job of bringing the book to life. However, one interesting and unsolved mystery regarding the adaptation still has me scratching my head to this day. It's not a plot hole, exactly, but it does raise one very specific question about a main character.

The changes to the Matilda book allow the movie to be its own entity while remaining somewhat faithful to the source material. Directed by, produced by, and starring Danny DeVito, there's no doubt who was in charge of the adaptation process. That being said, I think DeVito probably went a bit overboard with his involvement, and it manifests itself in a peculiar way that becomes almost distracting.

Danny DeVito Playing Matilda's Dad As Well As Narrating The Movie Is Super Confusing

DeVito's dual-casting in Matilda creates a problem

DeVito's onscreen role in the movie is as the hotheaded patriarch of Matilda's family, Harry Wormwood. Crooked and short-tempered, DeVito's performance as Harry demonstrates an example of perfect casting, in my opinion. Interestingly, DeVito was also installed as the movie's narrator, providing commentary and guiding the viewers' perceptions throughout. What I find weird about this is the fact that it creates the illusion of Harry Wormwood serving as the story's narrator, but this is neither confirmed nor denied at any point.

I was very young when I first watched the movie, so I simply perceived the narrator to be Harry Wormwood due to their shared voice.

I was very young when I first watched the movie, so I simply perceived the narrator to be Harry Wormwood due to their shared voice. As I've gotten older, I've realized this makes less and less sense. The narrator talks about Harry in the third person and seems generally uncomplimentary about the behavior and personality of Matilda's father. Today, I'm almost certain the narrator and Harry are completely independent of one another as characters, but it's taken me an annoyingly long time to reconcile that due to DeVito's dual-casting.

Danny DeVito's Voice Is Too Recognizable (Despite His Attempts To Mask It)

It's still easy to tell that Harry & the narrator share an actor

I'm sure I'm not the only one who can immediately recognize Danny DeVito's iconic voice. So, despite the actor offering very different performances as Harry Wormwood and the movie's narrator, it's still incredibly easy to tell DeVito is providing Matilda's voiceover. Harry is certainly more brash and confrontational than the narrator, but DeVito's attempt to adopt a different demeanor while telling the story simply isn't enough for me not to notice it's the same actor. His delivery as the narrator is much softer, but it's still recognizably DeVito's voice.

If DeVito had stepped away from either of his two roles, there would still be no denying who was pulling the strings.

While I remain resolute in my view of Matilda as almost faultless, I think it could have come even closer to perfection if DeVito had decided on a single character to play rather than taking on two seemingly unrelated personas in the same movie. His involvement in the production was already incredibly notable behind the camera, and he even recruited his then-wife, Rhea Pearlman, to play Matilda's mother. If DeVito had stepped away from either of his two roles, there would still be no denying who was pulling the strings.

Danny DeVito Was Better As Harry Wormwood Than He Was As Matilda's Narrator

Matilda would have been better off replacing DeVito's narrator with a new actor

If DeVito were to have abandoned either role, I'd have much preferred it to be the narrator. There's no denying he did a formidable job telling the story, but he would have been more effective in this role if he hadn't also played Matilda's father. The narrative dissonance it creates just isn't worth it. On the other hand, I cannot imagine any actor other than Danny DeVito playing Harry. Not only does he get to use his entire acting skill set outside just his voice, but he can also lean into his role as one of the movie's villains.

As the narrator, there's also the matter that he has a responsibility to remain slightly more neutral. Sure, he does quietly sympathize with Matilda's plight throughout the movie, but that just makes it even more confusing when Harry treats his daughter so poorly without any thought as to her feelings or how it could affect her development. DeVito being so heavily in charge of the movie generally didn't do the end product much harm, but if he had cast someone else as the narrator, I think I'd love Matilda just that little bit more.