If you were a child for any duration of the '90s, then it's unlikely you escaped without at least some exposure to a fantastic little film called Matilda. That story — which began as a book by Roald Dahl and has since made its way to musical form on Broadway and in London's West End — was beloved for many reasons when the film version was released (among them, a precocious and enlivening performance by Mara Wilson). And it still is, two full decades after its debut on the 2nd of August, 1996.I might suggest that, all the delightful magic aside, kids love Matilda because the story digs into familiar feelings from childhood, including powerlessness. We all remember those moments when we were told to eat vegetables that just didn't taste very good, sent to bed early long before the sun went down, or punished for things we didn't do without ever being given the chance to explain. The inability to fight back — for both children and adults — is awful, because whether we consciously know it or not, it's a reminder of how vulnerable we are as people.Matilda endures her fair share of feeling helpless, of course — that's the premise of the movie, and it continues for a solid three-quarters of the way through. Born to parents who couldn't be bothered with her from the day she arrived home from the hospital, she's a black sheep in a family of book-hating, snarling crooks who go out of their way to make it clear that they don't give a damn about their daughter. As a toddler, she's left home alone to heat up soup on the stove, and it's not until she makes her way to the library — little red wagon in tow — that she finally finds some relief.