Roald Dahl knew what kids liked - plucky, good kids, vividly grotesque baddies who get what's coming to them, a touch of the scary, a gob of grossness. Kids loved his books and still do, despite the J.K.-come-lately types.

His 1988 novel Matilda contains all the right elements and not unexpectedly has been adapted into other media. There was a non-musical film in 1996 directed by Danny DeVito. The Royal Shakespeare Company produced a stage musical based on the book that premiered on the West End in 2011. Both the London production and the Broadway version were multi-award-winning hits.

Now the latter has been adapted to the screen with most of Aussie Tim Minchin's songs retained. I saw it at Dendy but the cinema run won't be long - it's a Netflix co-production - so if you're keen to see it on the big screen rather than via streaming, step lively.

Matthew Warcus isn't the first director of a stage musical to also take on the film version. Sometimes this works quite well (like Morton Da Costa on The Music Man), sometimes it doesn't (Bob Fosse went overboard on the cinema techniques for Sweet Charity) - it depends on how well the director can meld experience with the show with adaptation to the different medium.

But even experienced film directors unfamiliar with the genre can stuff up a musical (see, for example, Sidney Lumet's leaden The Wiz). Some do OK one time (eg Richard Attenborough with Oh! What a Lovely War, Tom Hooper with Les Miserables) but disappointingly the next (Attenborough's A Chorus Line, Hooper's horrendous Cats).

Musicals can be tricky, especially nowadays when there aren't as many of them being made. I haven't seen the stage production of Matilda but it seems to have made the transition fairly well. Dennis Kelly adapted his script for the film.

Matilda Wormwood (played by the talented and appealing young Alisha Weir) seems to be quite an autodidact: her neglectful, greedy and crass parents (Stephen Graham and Andrea Riseborough) don't even send her to school. Despite what could be kindly described as parental indifference (her father wanted a boy and keeps referring to her as such), she has maintained her spirit and managed to read all sorts of books, immersing herself in their worlds to escape the unpleasantness at home (where she also indulges in small acts of rebellion).

Her only genuine friend seems to be the sympathetic librarian Mrs Phelps (Sindhu Vee).

When the authorities catch on, she is sent to school - specifically, Crunchem Hall. As if the name wasn't ominous enough, the Latin motto is Bambinatum est Magitum - "Children are Maggots" - which the nasty, repressive headmistress Miss Trunchbull (a heavily made-up Emma Thompson, having a high old time) firmly believes.

Why Trunchbull, a former athlete with a statue of herself on the school grounds, went into teaching is a mystery, though I am sure we've all had teachers who, however charitably we might view them with hindsight, seemed ill-suited to the job in one way or another.

Although some of the kids are mean, Matilda does manage to make a friend or two. One of her teachers, Miss Honey (Lashana Lynch) is supportive and helps bring out her talents - which include telekinesis. But don't worry, Matilda's not too much like Stephen King's Carrie. It's not giving away too much to say that the high-principled Matilda and cruel Miss Trunchbull will come into conflict.

Some of Minchin's songs feel a little repetitive - driving choral marches - but mostly they're heaps of fun, lyrically clever and musically appealing, and capably delivered. Whether the songs are solos or large-scale production numbers, Warcus and company stage them well, with production design, choreography and editing making for a cinematic experience. This doesn't feel like someone just stuck a camera or two in front of a stage and said "Action!"

While the film is intentionally broad, there are some more tender moments, like the story Matilda tells throughout the film, but the feeling is a little underplayed. There could also been more attention paid to the minor characters - although there's a big cast, the focus is heavily on the principals. Giving some of the others a moment or two to shine would have provided more sense of a broader community beyond merely seeing lots of people on screen.