The Colour of Magic (2008)

phonenumberofthebeast's review (2009) almost made me abandon the idea to write my own... Okay, David Jason's Rincewind is exactly as I pictured him, and Jeremy Irons and Tim Curry are quite memorable (as usual). Actually the set designers and 98% of the cast did a more than adequate job. Actors from the UK are always a delight! But the special effects look 1880's (except 'Luggage', he's amazing), the score is an attack on your eardrums, and both the orangutan librarian and Death make me wish I had chosen to watch episodes from 1970's Catweazle. (same type as Rincewind, but much funnier!) 'Death' is Pratchett's best novel character, he is mystic, dead-seriously ironic and sometimes hilariously human. And I get to see an actor wearing a cheap unmovable cardboard mask?? Come on, just some extra FX wizardry, and he would have been much more impressive, and even fearsome. Less relevant, but I always envisioned foreigner Twoflower as a little rotund semi-Asian guy. Not a robust American. (With all respect to Sean Astin)Pratchett's books constantly tickle my funny bone, even after an umpteenth re-reading. The movie made me laugh only once (and I forgot what it was).The problem, I think: Pratchett wrote novels in which the humor is not very subtle, it borders on slapstick, yet it is brilliant. Really, really funny. That man had an enormous wit. And although in the movie I heard familiar Discworld dialogues, they all fell flat. Director/screenwriter Vadim Jean clearly failed in transferring that quality.I dare not think what would have happened had Hollywood taken on Pratchett, but I do wonder what Terry Gilliam, Harry Potter's Alfonso Cuaron or David Yates (Potter again) would have made of The Colour of Magic... (Yes, it's 'colour'. It's a British title.)

OK, first thing's first.This doesn't have the budget of your average fantasy movie, so don't expect good effects or masks or settings all the time. They fit 2 books of material into 3 hours of film so a lot was cut - understandable and all things considered, well enough. Colour of Magic is not the most interesting / best written of his books to begin with - which doesn't diminish its importance in the grand scheme of things, but hey, it doesn't help anything. All that considered, it's well done and I can appreciate it.But some things I can't get over.For example... the cast. The fact that David Jason and Sean Astin are fans of the book, made me like them even more. But man... Rincewind ISN'T OLD. OR FAT. You don't go and change the appearance of the most recognizable character from a very well known series and change his appearance and back story drastically so that it would fit the actor playing him :/. Heck, even in the playback he's neither ginger nor looking like the marathon runner he is. I don't buy Twoflower as an American too... And the Librarian... one of the best characters of the novels is, despite everything shown extensively as a human, and an irritating, neurotic one to boot. And as an ape... he's downright creepy. There's one exception -> Cohen does look like himself, I'll give you that. There are more completely unnecessary discrepancies but I don't care to continue with naming them all.To sum it up, David Jason as Rincewind, despite being a great actor that I respect a lot, kills the movie for me. And it's NOT his acting's fault (even if I've seen better performances from him and feel like he was overacting in some ways), it's just the way he looks. I can't imagine Rincewind like that. It's just not him.And the humor, OK, so that's subjective, but I've found that the "old" one works only occasionally in here and the newly added stuff is groan or face-palm inducing in all situations bar one (Death's last comment of the movie got a smile from me). Some things look really shoddy too, but I'll "blame" that on the budget and not take it against the movie.Strange that Pratchett would allow some these... but who knows. CoM (more) and LF (less) ARE apart in some ways from the canon he created later on to begin with. It might be OK if you look at it in that way.

I've read the books several times, and have watched this film several times. I love them both. To quibble about the FX or the bits left out is to ignore the entire history of cinematic failure when it comes to adaptations of novels. To push play and actually see a labor of love come alive is always a pleasure, whether it's Plan 9, THX1138, or Shadowlands. The excellent cast are obviously having a great time with this. Nobody can embody quiet menace like Jeremy Irons, and he positively radiates danger with the merest raised eyebrow or bit of dignified wit. You'll never want someone in real life to say, "What are we going to do with you...." in that tone of voice. Tim curry is perfect as a power hungry wizard, barely able to keep from acting out his avarice at all times, and NEVER able to keep it from his face. Christopher Lee continues the best second act in moviedom as the voice of Death. The art direction is fantastic, whether it fit your imagined preconceptions or not. Pratchet spends so much time in the original books ladling on the sensual joys of Ankh-Morpork that nothing but a total immersion virtual reality version could ever match it's huge greasy splendor. The vision presented here has none of the stitched together second unit feel that many similar films labor under. It has the feel of a lushly illustrated Victorian fairy tale with a nod to Terry Gilliam's Brian. I obviously could go on and on, but I won't. This is an affectionate, fun romp and deserves none of the obsessively contrarian grousing Fanboys stew in. So give yourself a break from the grim Sturm and Dang of this week's fantasy release, forget the economy, and dive right in. The water's....substantial.

I love the books - full of humour, action, and a laff-a-minute. This production is anything but. It is sloooooow, it is baaaaaaad, it is boooooooring. Even the "action" scenes are sloooow and ponderous.The casting is abysmal (I mean - grandpappy David Jason as Rincewind? Come ON!!!) Even the actors that *could* have been good make their best to outbad each other - Tim Curry vies for the Ham of the Year Award; Jeremy Irons, who could have made a *fabulous* Patrician if he only tried, turns what should have been a cold and calculating character into an effeminate fop with a speech impediment; and Sean Astin simply ruins every scene he is in (which is virtually the entire movie) by mustering all the acting skills of a grade school pageant.All in all - simply shockingly BAD! I really had to steel myself not to turn it off after 30 minutes.This is not a movie for watching, this a movie for lying down and AVOIDING!