The Colour of Magic
The Colour of Magic
TV-PG | 23 March 2008 (USA)
SEASON & EPISODES
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  • Reviews
    Lucybespro

    It is a performances centric movie

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    Reptileenbu

    Did you people see the same film I saw?

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    Odelecol

    Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

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    Casey Duggan

    It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

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    Reno Rangan

    It is a 2 episode television mini-series adapted from a fantasy novel of the same name. If you have already seen 'The Lord of the Rings' and 'Harry Potter' films, then won't get excited while watching it. But it is not a bad film, that made par with the television quality. Visually acceptable, but the performances and locations were good.It was a decent story, but mostly clichéd. Inspired by middle age about the understanding of the earth and the universe. The world is flat and circular, where different kingdoms across all the continents about verge to discover something new. In this tale set in somewhere where a tourist and an expelled wizard to team up for the sightseeing, but end up in a long unexpected adventure where they face various dangers and overcoming it brings an end to the narration.The film characters were awesome, the imaginations were brilliant. It might be an ideal film for children, but for the grown up it is not much effective. I'm not doubting the Terry Pratchett's creation, but only this series. A couple of seasons television series would be a good idea, but should not compromise for the graphics. While 'Game of Thrones' making a big, why can't this. Hope my wish comes true very soon.6½/10

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    Robert Murray

    Our family loved this movie. We have seen both Hogfather and The Color of Magic. Both are excellent movies. The Color of Magic has some slow spots, but the ending is wonderful and worth the time spent. The characters develop very well. For the most part the acting is very good and the special effects are excellent. The cinematography overall is of very good quality. The only drawback to the movie is there are some scenes that were not necessary and over-explained the story. I have not read the novel so I do not know how the movie compares to the book, however, the movie is very enjoyable, and in being so respects the work of the author. We highly recommend this fun, family movie.

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    siderite

    I've never been able to read Terry Pratchett's books, mostly because they were too ... British. All those large words and phrasing that seems to always say more than one can possibly understand. So I was grateful for a chance to grasp a little of what all this Discworld business is all about.The film is clearly a TV movie, the special effects are simple and either completely CGI or weird mashups (like the fire breathing dragon bit), but that never bothered me because the acting was great, the story fun and the people in it clearly enjoying every moment of its making.Bottom line: like the old Shakespeare plays that BBC was doing and I gobbled up as a young child or like Doctor Who or any other of those shows that Brits do, which are cheaply done, but with a lot of soul, I really liked it. I am looking forward to watching Hogfather, next.

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    phonenumberofthebeast

    Vadim Jean's second adaptation of Terry Pratchett's longrunning Discworld series of comedic fantasy novels cannot compare to the first, though it is not really his fault. The series adapts Pratchtt's first two novels, The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic, which together form a loose single narrative. Set on a typical fantasy realm, replete with trolls, dwarfs and demons, they are, effectively, a parody of the hero's quest, in that the hero, an untalented "wizzard" named Rincewind, has no intention either of being heroic or of going on a quest but ends up fighting monsters, riding dragons and trying to save the world anyway. He is assisted by his "sidekick" Twoflower, who seems only dimply aware that he isn't on a packaged holiday. And that, without mentioning specifics, is the entire plot. Along the way, several fantasy (or perhaps D&D) conventions, such as talking swords, scantily-clad, Heavy Metal-style warrior women, and raging loin-clothed barbarians, are duly referenced and lambasted.After the relative success of Hogfather in 2006, Vadim Jean decided to take the series in a surprising direction: backwards. Correctly in my view, he chose perhaps the archetypal novel in Pratchett's canon to adapt first. Hogfather was Pratchett at his absolute height, mixing adventure with philosophical commentary and existential humour, the most mature expression of such Discworldly themes of imagination vs. reality, the power of myth vs rationality, and the dichotomy of "the falling angel and the rising ape". "The Colour of Magic" and "The Light Fantastic" were written 25 years ago, when Pratchett was still finding his feet as a writer. As such, they lack some of the sophistication one comes to expect from the series. The books' humour, which would eventually become character and situation-driven, here operates on the level of broad parody, lampooning the absurdities of many fantasy and fairy tale conventions. The characterisation, which would become far more complex in later novels, is as broad as a wall, with Twofower the naive Asian tourist and Rincewind the cowardly non-hero. In a move that was either very wise or bewilderingly silly, Jean decided to cast Sean Astin as Twoflower, even though in the books he is East Asian in appearance. Perhaps this was done to lessen the racial stereotype, but if so, that doesn't reflect well on the source material. His decision to cast the elderly David Jason as Rincewind, who in the books is a youngish man with a scraggly attempt at a beard, is less explicable, other than Jean was simply grateful that Jason wanted to do another series with him.But if the plot is slight, the actors certainly give it their all. Astin plays Twoflower with just the right kind of naivete, while Jason, though miscast, creates a Rincewind that is suitably cynical and craven. For Pratchett fans, a number of pleasing retcons have been incorporated: The Librarian becomes an orangutan much earlier; Death is now his fully-evolved, pleasantly bemused self, and the Patrician is unquestionably Vetinari, here played by Jeremy Irons- a nod to Pratchett saying that a good actor for Vetinari would be "that guy from Die Hard", ie Alan Rickman.In summary, I think Pratchett fans will find pleasure in it, but others should probably stay away.

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