- AKA
- Yop
...is A. the first book in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, and B. A 2008 movie adaptation of Pratchett's first two Discworld books for British TV station Sky by a studio I dunno called The Mob. I downloaded / watched it yesterday, and I have to say, it's a very good adaptation of the books.
They've stayed true to the books for the largest part, with just a few scenes from the book missing (no Temple of Bel-Shamharoth in favor of the Wyrmberg) and some stuff altered / shuffled around, but nothing (imo) that does the book injustice.
Visual quality is quite good as well. Don't expect any Hollywood-style epic full CG scenes, but more emphasis on quality sets and functional CG.
Acting is quite good as well, Rincewind (done by David Jason, which probably noone will know unless they watch late-night public TV, in which he stars in British detective series Frost where he plays a rather different character - i.e. grumpy old man) and Twoflower (done by Sean Astin of Potatowned fame) are - obviously - the main characters, and portray their roles very much like their book counterparts - Astin being the chubby and naïve tourist in a hawaii shirt, Jason the failed, scruffy wizzard (yes, with two Z's - it says so on his hat).
Next to those, probably the only people that would ring a bell (or that rings a bell for me anyways), is Tim Curry, whom, as far as I can remember, has never ever played a good guy. Ever. He plays the 'antagonist' Trymon, who aims (and succeeds) at becoming the Archchancellor by killing some dudes. His role's been made to depict a more decisive antagonist from the book btw. Next to him, there's Christopher Lee as the voice of Death.
Overall, it's a good movie, and certainly not what you'd expect from a direct-to-TV / DVD movie in terms of quality and lulz. However, it's not all perfect.
First, I don't think it was as funny or absurd as the book, for some reason. The jokes didn't have the impact like they did in the books, most likely because the books had loads more dry comments and descriptions between the lines that just wouldn't transfer to film unless they narrated the entire movie.
Besides the three / four characters named above, the rest of the cast doesn't really seem to have much of an identity. There's also Cohen the Barbarian with a significant role, but other than that, the others just hang around for the lulz and background narrative. I dunno, it just seems lacking a bit in that area. But that might also be due to them not being played by well-known actors, I dunno.
But yar. If you're ever up for a 3 hour British lulzworthy movie, go watch The Colour of Magic, fgj. And yes, that's with a 'u', it's British.
They've stayed true to the books for the largest part, with just a few scenes from the book missing (no Temple of Bel-Shamharoth in favor of the Wyrmberg) and some stuff altered / shuffled around, but nothing (imo) that does the book injustice.
Visual quality is quite good as well. Don't expect any Hollywood-style epic full CG scenes, but more emphasis on quality sets and functional CG.
Acting is quite good as well, Rincewind (done by David Jason, which probably noone will know unless they watch late-night public TV, in which he stars in British detective series Frost where he plays a rather different character - i.e. grumpy old man) and Twoflower (done by Sean Astin of Potatowned fame) are - obviously - the main characters, and portray their roles very much like their book counterparts - Astin being the chubby and naïve tourist in a hawaii shirt, Jason the failed, scruffy wizzard (yes, with two Z's - it says so on his hat).
Next to those, probably the only people that would ring a bell (or that rings a bell for me anyways), is Tim Curry, whom, as far as I can remember, has never ever played a good guy. Ever. He plays the 'antagonist' Trymon, who aims (and succeeds) at becoming the Archchancellor by killing some dudes. His role's been made to depict a more decisive antagonist from the book btw. Next to him, there's Christopher Lee as the voice of Death.
Overall, it's a good movie, and certainly not what you'd expect from a direct-to-TV / DVD movie in terms of quality and lulz. However, it's not all perfect.
First, I don't think it was as funny or absurd as the book, for some reason. The jokes didn't have the impact like they did in the books, most likely because the books had loads more dry comments and descriptions between the lines that just wouldn't transfer to film unless they narrated the entire movie.
Besides the three / four characters named above, the rest of the cast doesn't really seem to have much of an identity. There's also Cohen the Barbarian with a significant role, but other than that, the others just hang around for the lulz and background narrative. I dunno, it just seems lacking a bit in that area. But that might also be due to them not being played by well-known actors, I dunno.
But yar. If you're ever up for a 3 hour British lulzworthy movie, go watch The Colour of Magic, fgj. And yes, that's with a 'u', it's British.
