Colour Of Magic (4 Hrs)

 

 

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A live-action Terry Pratchett movie is either doomed to fail in every way, or succeed in practically everything.

And "The Colour of Magic," adapted from the first two novels in Pratchett's brilliant Discworld series, is more the former than the latter. This one is no "Hogather" -- it has rather slack direction at times -- but it preserves Pratchett's wry satirical sense of humour. And of course, it's all about a mercenary, cowardly failed wizard.

Rincewind (David Jason) is ejected from the Unseen University, on the very day that Twoflower (Sean Astin) arrives with his many-legged Luggage. He's come to the Disc... to "look at it." But after Rincewind tries to con Twoflower, the Patrician (Jeremy Irons) orders Rincewind to be the guide/bodyguard of the Disc's first ever tourist.

After a massive fire sweeps through the city, the two end up fleeing Ankh-Morpork and running into all sorts of weird things -- a very assertive magic sword, a floating island full of see-through dragons, a dramatic dragonlady in a leather bikini, astrozoologists trying to determine Great A'Tuin's gender, the aged Cohen the (retired) Barbarian, druids, and even getting thrown clear off the Disc in a strange spacecraft. And you thought YOU had problems.

Unfortunately the Unseen University is having troubles of its own -- the magical book Octavo is acting weird, and power-hungry Trymon (Tim Curry) is scheming against the Archchancellor. Even worse, a strange red star has appeared in the sky, and the world is facing destruction. The only thing that can save it is the spell in Rincewind's head.

Perhaps it's because it's based on the first, roughest Discworld books, but "Colour of Magic" is not quite as funny or tightly-written as its predecessor, "Hogather." The writing is not quite as complex or as witty, and the direction sometimes feels a bit slack (such as the bar fight scene, or Trymon skulking and schemind around the University).

But despite these drawbacks, "Colour of Magic" is still a vastly entertaining story -- it has a solid plotline and it chugs away nicely after a somewhat sluggish beginning, and blossoms into full-out complexity about halfway through. Once it gets underway it starts to resemble a road-trip through fantasy-land, with our quirky tourist and wizard bungling their way across the Disc.

Along the way there's some fun action (an upside-down duel), humorous dialogue ("You weren't born with a mysterious birthmark in the shape of a crown, were you?"), and a general air of tongue-in-cheekness. Best of all, it's a fantasy spoof -- Vadim Jean preserves Pratchett's clever satire aimed at the staples of your average fantasy: fantasy babes, prophecies, magic swords, retired barbarians, powerful artifacts, and even the idea of reality warping itself to save the "hero."

Jason is wonderfully snivelly and sour as Rincewind, a failed wizard who basically finds himself repeatedly swept up into bizarre, deadly circumstances even though he didn't want to be involved. Astin is even better as the hilariously oblivious Twoflower, who regards every disaster as yet another great adventure ("We're going to run out of world!" "I have to see that!").

And there's a talented supporting cast -- Curry chews the scenery with sneering aplomb, Karen David plays a humorously over-the-top dragon-lady, and Irons has a small but wonderful role as the chilly, efficient Vetinari. And of course, the brilliant Christopher Lee takes over as an increasingly disappointed Death.

"Colour of Magic" isn't as tightly directed as it could have been, but it still manages to be clever and quite amusing.

We Blairs are all major fans of Terry Pratchett; read as many books as we can find, our daughter had found the DVD of Hogfather a couple of years ago, now its one of our fav Xmas movies. I keep an eye on his website so was pleased to see the first stories available on 1 DVD, It kept pretty close to the original story. We all loved the choice of actors and the traveling luggage was great...Will there be anymore with live actors?
Can't wait to see Captain Vimes and his gang !!!
Blair family ( 75 to 14 )

David Jason, while a wonderful and likeable actor, is simply too old and and too stout to play the lanky and young(ish) Rincewind. Sean Astin was also the wrong physical type for Twoflower, who is described in the book as chubby, balding, and probably older than Rincewind. Despite these discrepencies, the performances were engaging enough to make the characters believable . Christopher Lee, who voiced Death in several animated Discworld adapations, has replaced the the late Ian Richardson seamlessly. Cohen the Barbarian, one of Discworlds most classic characters, looks and sounds exactly as he should and is portrayed by an actor who seems very familiar- perhaps Argus Filtch from the Harry Potter movies? 'Color of Magic' was Terry Prachett's earliest Disworld book and lacks some of the depth and sophistication of his later works and this is reflected in the movie- characters are more one-dimensional (in general) and the plot is a little clunkier than in later stories, but all in all, it's a good adapation.

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2.0 out of 5 stars Colour of Magic
Even though there are some good actors, the production in general is very poor. Boring and tastless. The mixture of all kands of styles, but in a wrong way. Read more

Published 2 months ago by My Voice

5.0 out of 5 stars Colour of Magic
A fairy tale type show ... will appeal to kids and I think, most adults who don't take it too seriously. Watched it 2x and I only opened the package yesterday ! lol

Published 7 months ago by kekes

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent movie
I loved this fantasy movie. Even if I didn't read Terry Pratchett's books that inspired this adaptation, I enjoyed the movie as much as my children who did read the two books... Read more

Published 11 months ago by Michael

4.0 out of 5 stars The Colour of Magic - totally cool
Being of the doubtful type, I wasn't sure of a film adaptation of one of my favourite author's books - however, after spending all afternoon watching this movie with my two... Read more

Published 13 months ago by Jude

4.0 out of 5 stars Actually about 3 1/2
I love Terry Pratchett's books, having read each one an average of 3 times, and finding more funny stuff each time. Read more

Published 18 months ago by Brian Ashe

5.0 out of 5 stars Great fun
We love it. We have been reading diskworld books to our little girl before bed, and it was great to see it come to life. Read more

Published on Jan 24 2010 by A. Craig

5.0 out of 5 stars Lovingly done! Very entertaining.
I loved it. I thought that it was a brilliant adaptation of the books. The characters are well portrayed and the casting is superb. Read more

Published on Dec 21 2009 by Martina Barnett

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