Terry Pratchett Month: Movie Review: The Color of Magic

Title: The Color of Magic
Genre: Fantasy/Humor
Released (North America): 2009
Length: 197 minutes
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Cast: David Jason, Sean Astin, Tim Curry

My Thoughts: First off, I loved seeing Terry Pratchett in the opening scene as Astrozoologist #2. At first I didn't know why I recognized the man with the white beard and glasses, but then it clicked. I know who that person is!

But as for the rest of the movie? I don't often laugh at things onscreen, but I did several times during The Color of Magic. It stuck fairly well to the original plot of The Color of Magic and The Light Fantastic (it's divided into two episodes), though they cut out a lot of the details and completely left out the Temple of Bel-Shamharoth, which I thought was too bad. That was one thing that bothered me: they left out so many characters and details, just glossing over some of the interesting (or just the funny) bits. Like, for example, there is no card game with Death, they omitted the gods, there are less heroes, and the Wyrmberg was just in-and-out compared to the book.

Nevertheless, the movie was quite enjoyable. It was awesome seeing the Discworld come to life, and I love the cast. Sean Astin was perfect for Twoflower (you know, Samwise Gamgee from LOTR?), David Jason was a great Rincewind (despite the fact I hadn't pictured him in my head as being that old), and Tim Curry was a perfectly disturbing, conniving wizard (though they did expand his part from the book-Trymon).

Other: Some violence (tavern brawl/swordfights/usual Fantasy) and mild swearing (there is one instance where it sounds like something worse than it is--when they're first introduced to Cohen the Barbarian's lack of teeth. You probably know what I'm referring to, if you've read the book.)

Verdict: A great adaptation of Terry Pratchett's The Color of Magic and The Light Fantastic.





Other Terry Pratchett Month Posts:

Book Review: The Color of Magic

Book Review: The Light Fantastic

Discussion Post: On Humorous and Parodic Stories
Book Review: Nation
Discussion Post: Anthropomorphism
Book Review: Good Omens


-----The Golden Eagle

Book and Movie Review: Howl's Moving Castle

Title: Howl's Moving Castle

Author: Diana Wynne Jones

Publisher: HarperTrophy

Genre: Fantasy

Page Count: 329

Rating: 5 out of 5

Cover Rating: 3.2 out of 5. It's not that great--I would have preferred something a little more dynamic than an old woman and a scarecrow, although the castle in the background is good; the green and yellow face (which is supposed to be Calcifer) is strange, since they never said he had teeth in the book . . .

Inside flap:

Sophie lived in the town of Market Chipping, which was in Ingary, a land in which anything could happen, and often did--especially when the Witch of the Waste got her dander up. Which was often.

   As her younger sisters set out to seek their fortunes, Sophie stayed in her father's hat shop. Which proved most unadventurous, until the Witch of the Waste came in to buy a bonnet, but was no pleased. Which is why she turned Sophie into an old lady. Which was spiteful witchery.

   Now Sophie must seek her own fortune. Which means striking a bargain with the lecherous Wizard Howl. Which means entering his ever-moving castle, taming a blue fire demon, and meeting the Witch of the Waste head on. Which was more than Sophie bargained for . . .

My expectations: High. I'd heard a lot of good things about this book (I seriously can't remember where, but oh well) and I enjoyed Castle In the Air, which is a loosely-tied sequel.

My expectations were exceeded.

About the book: First things first: I love this book. There's wonderful humor, (please see this post if you want to know my thoughts on humor), the characters are varied and Sophie was a great protagonist, and I enjoyed the setting. (I might mention that Sophie doesn't actually strike a bargain with Howl, as the blurb states; she makes the bargain with his fire-demon.)

I like Jones's writing style; it's wry throughout, and the dialogue is fun. There are a lot of adverbs (yes, those dreaded adverbs!) and she uses them with skill; despite a lot of the words ending in -ly or -ing, it felt natural. Nothing stuck out as being awkward or unnecessary.

• Plot:

It isn't full of quests, or love triangles, or desperate lunges to save the world, which was a nice relief from the usual. It moved fast (I read this book in a matter of hours) and there were nice twists and turns along the way.

• Characters:

I found Sophie to be one of my favorite female protagonists in a while. She's strong, and she has a level head, which is rare these days. Her attitude changes as she goes from the quiet, eldest-child to an older, snarkier old lady, and it was amusing to watch her "mouse" self become something more assertive and confident.

Howl is the wizard, of course; one of the interesting things about his character is that he knows he's a coward, and he's slapdash, and he's always going out on pointless missions to win the affections of the newest girl who's caught his fancy. The fact he was kind of a player irritated me, but at other times Howl was hilarious.

Calcifer was funny, and so was Michael, in his own way; both were good characters.

• Setting/Elements:

Fire demons, moving castles, running scarecrows, witches turning girls into old ladies . . . what more could you want? AKA this was a fantastic setting. It was detailed, and I could picture the surroundings well.

Other: It's clean. The only thing I might mention is the fact Howl's always going after the girls.

Do I recommend this book? Yes! Absolutely.

*****Movie Review*****

Director: Hayao Miyazaki

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

This was one of the best book-to-movie adaptations I've seen. I enjoyed the animation; part of the reason I watched this was because Kiki's Delivery Service is still a movie I like, and was directed by the same person.

One thing that I didn't like, though, is that Sophie is much more love-oriented than in the book. In the book, she's resistant to liking Howl and tries to avoid even thinking about the possibility she loves him; but in the movie, she says she does (to him, for that matter) much earlier, and is less of a strong character. That disappointed me.

In addition to Sophie's change of character, the movie seemed to be riding on the fact that the Magician Suliman, (who is a wizard, and a man, not a woman, in the book), the Witch of the Waste, Sophie, and Calcifer all have claims to Howl's heart. Which means, consequently, that there's a whole love aspect to the movie that is nonexistent in the book.

Another detail they changed is the fact there's a war going on in the movie, (there's no war in the book) and Howl's supposed to take part in it on the side of his country--but he refuses, and instead attacks and destroys many of the airships, and attempts to stop the bombs from falling on the towns/cities. He changes into a large, gray-blue bird while he's up in the air, and somehow his humanity begins to fade away the more often and the longer he changes.

Still, other details and elements were the same, and I loved the movie. There was still a lot of the light humor, and they made Calcifer much more amusing than he was in the book; it deviated, but it was effective for the movie.

Is this worth spending 119 minutes of your life on? Yes! In fact, this movie is online if you want to watch it, it's just the animation isn't in detail; I would recommend seeing the DVD instead (my library has it, which is why I got to see it yesterday . . .).

-----The Golden Eagle

I got this award from Fearless!

Apples, oranges, or bananas?

Apples.

How many siblings do you have?

0.

How old are you?

13 1/3

Do you lone on a prairie, woodland, swamp, city, or other?

Other. I inhabit a temperate forest.

Scissors or glue?

Scissors. Cutting is better than gluing . . .

Describe your dream house:

Down a secluded forest path in the hills with pines/maples/etc. and a creek, in a large clearing where I can see the stars at night. Large glass windows, spacey interior. Differently colored rooms, with different themes.

Is your room clean?

Dusty, more like. There aren't any dirty socks or laundry, but it could stand a dustmop.

If you could be a movie chracter for a day, who would it be?

Arya, from Eragon.

Italy, Greece, France, Spain, or England?

Greece. Ruins and the sea . . .

What denomination are you?

I don't go to church.

Do you sleep with a stuffed toy (BE HONEST!)?

No. (It's the truth. I slept with a large purple unicorn until a 1 1/2 years ago, though.)

Gum, chocolate, or jelly beans?

None. Fruit, please.

What is your favorite book?

Beka Cooper. (I have tons of favorites, but I've read that one 4 times in the last month . . .)

Favorite ice cream flavor?

I don't eat ice cream all that much, but it's strawberry. :)

If you had to eat one type of food for two weeks, what would that food be?

Pizza.

What is your favorite Olympic Sport?

Gee . . .

If you woke up and discovered that you had turned into Miley Cyrus for the day, what would you do?

Try to find some reasonable clothes from her closet, march outside and start a humanitarian aid campaign to help people in Africa and other distressed places. Donate millions to non-profit organizations, and then motivate my fans to help others.

Describe yourself in three words.

Imaginative. Intelligent. Ingenius. (And those are just the "i"s.)

What chore do you hate?

Dusting. I'm mildly allergic to dust, so I try to avoid it.

If Elmo came into your room with a gun, what would you do?

(Is this a jab at the accusations that Elmo is selfish?) Freeze up, then wait until his back is turned. Then launch out of bed and tackle his fuzzy person to the ground, knocking the weapon out of his hand. (Weird question, but that's a tag for you. :)

*****

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian

Hilarious. :D

The Night at the Museum movies are great, if you ask me. I watched this one last night, and laughed during a lot of it.

Nick: "You don't have a plan."
Larry: "I have a plan!"
Nick: "No, you don't have a plan."
Larry: "Yes! I have no plan!"

Al Capone: "Why are you wearing a dress?"
Kahmunrah: "It's not a dress. It is a tunic. There is quite a difference. It was the height of fashion 3000 years ago."
Ivan the Terrible: "Do we have to wear a dress?"
Kahmunrah: "Did you not hear what I just said? It is a tunic."
Napoleon Bonaparte: *raises hand*
Kahmunrah: "Any more questions not about my dress--I mean, tunic."
Napoleon: *lowers hand*

Larry: "What?"
Napoleon (with a heavy accent): "Were you two friends in college and now you are just afraid to say that you like like each ozzer?"
Larry/Amelia Earhart: "NO!"

Larry: "Quite down! Shhh!"
Amelia: "They're adorable!"
Cupids: *sings*
Larry: "I didn't mean change the song! I don't need the Titanic theme tune!"

Okay, so maybe you have to actually watch it get the real amusement, and not my slightly faulty lines that I'm calling up from memory. But it is funny.

-----The Golden Eagle