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Terry Pratchett's Discworld - Wyrd Sisters

Terry Pratchett's Discworld - Wyrd Sisters

List Price: $29.95
Your Price: $26.96
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Great Idea just wrongly executed...
Review: Now don't get me wrong, but maybe because I love Terry Pratchett books and I love the idea of an animated version. I was just so disappointed with this. I was actually worked up about getting this video. The story and the script are good the opening titles are great but it falls away fast after that. You know the feeling you got when you read the lord of the rings then saw the animated film. The disappointment over the poor animation and the story just stopping... Well this video made me feel just as disappointed. The production left something to be desired. The dialog sounded so wooden, spoken as if read directly from a script rather than acted (think of the cheesy Television ads you see some used car sales man read his lines from cue cards.) I can forgive bad animation but bad production is another matter. It was as if the animation and the voice-overs where two separate projects duct taped together. Despite my disappointment about the production I liked the characters and the story, pretty faithful to the book. I would love to see more adaptations but maybe not from the same production company

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Not as funny as the books
Review: Terry Pratchetts books have always provided us with an often sarcastic but always funny look at our own world portrayed through in weird and wonderful worlds through the eyes of equally strange characters such as the witches. So it was with great excitement that I watched the tv movies on our TV. However I was a bit dissapointed with how they had come out. To me they had lost that sense of strange humour that Terry Pratchett had put in his books becoming stale and not at all interesting. Both the characters and backgrounds became flat, with voice acting that also was not that great. To me if you want to get into Terry Pratchett read the books dont watch the movies.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Excellent Video for Discworld Fans
Review: The animation of this video is certainly can't compare to Disney's Beauty and the Beast, but that's fine. I don't want it too. It's good just the way it is. Servicable, somewhat rough, but fun. The voices of the characters (especially Death) was well chosen and the creation of the characters is believable.

The story of the movie has been adapted from the novel exceedingly well. It loses virtually nothing in the movie translation (like some novels do...)

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Great story, bad animation.
Review: The animation style is a bit too old, and the "actors" are really stiff. They lack depth.
The story is good, as it can be expected from any Pratchett story.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great Story, OK Animation
Review: The animation was obviously not Nelvana or Disney but it was reasonable enough to avoid being distracting. The story, on the other hand, was an excellent adaptation of the novel.

A good story can always make up for production shortcomings. The same can't be said for the reverse (e.g. Armageddon).

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Too bad!
Review: The book is better, it's as simple as that. If you're in need of something to watch and love the Discworld, give it a spin.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Really...
Review: The book is better, it's as simple as that. If you're in need of something to watch and love the Discworld, give it a spin.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great for Pratchett fans!
Review: The first time I saw this one, I was disappointed. I love the books, and I expected the movie to be just as good. But the second time I watched it, I thought it was hilarious! One can't reasonably expect the jokes in the narrative to be in a movie with no narrator. I think that is what I was hoping for but didn't see, the first time. But once you realize that, the movie is wonderful. The animation is good, the transitions are fabulous, the story is funny. And they did try to add some of the jokes in the narrative into the dialog. All in all, a great buy! PS. For those who say Magrat isn't pretty enough, if you read her description in the books, she's not supposed to be pretty. She's supposed to be a flat-chested, skinny girl with messy, straw-like hair. The only person who thinks she's pretty is the fool. PPS. And the freeze-frame "glitch" in the DVD is normal for DVDs. I've seen it happen in Disney DVDs, too. It's what happens when it switches layers, although I think some DVD players might be better at handling the switch than others.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Delightful adaptation
Review: The initial response of a Discworld fan might be to wince in agony, assuming that this adaptation will ruin their visualization of the characters and scenarios. Don't wince. Though far from perfect, it's a funny and cute adaptation of Pratchett's skewed version of Shakespeare.

The three witches (weird sometimes-drunk Nanny Ogg, grouchily upright Granny Weatherwax, and flutter-brained romantic Magrat) are "abroad" on a stormy night. Elsewhere, the king is murdered, and remains a ghost haunting the castle of Lancre. He was killed by the more-than-mildly-nuts advisor Felmet, and his scheming, bossy wife. They target the king's infant son also -- but a faithful soldier smuggles the boy away, and drops dead at the feet of the witches.

The witches immediately foist the baby off on a travelling band of actors, as Felmet becomes king. He grows increasingly nutty as time goes on ("Is this a dagger I see before me?" "Nay, it's just me handkerchief"), and the witches are persecuted as he blames them for his problems. The lost prince, the ghost of the unfortunate king, Death, a quick-witted Fool, and three wyrd sisters must unravel the truth.

You can probably depend on anything written by/based on something by Terry Pratchett to be hilarious. It's a delight, from the brilliant Fool to the pyromaniac guard; the ghost who misplaces his head; the psychotic Pratchettian Lady "MacBeth" Felmet with red Princess Leia buns; Death trying to convince Felmet that living people can't be ghosts; Death's lecture on being a ghost ("Don't let it upset you!" "I'll try not to..." "Good man!"); Discworld's own version of Wil Shakespeare; Magrat's love troubles; Felmet's "tea and a bun" conversation with one of the soldiers; and just about every detail of Felmet's insanity.

The problem? Well, sadly the animation is not as good as the story. Often it has a "pixelized" look, and often the characters' body proportions and height alter from scene to scene (watch Magrat's hands). Movement is often jerky and oddly done. The fade-out swirly effects were rather distracting. And sometimes the voices are out of sync with the mouths of the characters.

But those voices are delightful, except for the rather scratchy sound of Magrat's, and the fact that in some scenes Granny Weatherwax sounds a little too masculine. Christopher Lee is deadpan brilliance as Death, and it's hard to imagine anyone else managing the right way of speaking. The Fool has the right sound, as does the delightful always-quoting Prince.

Well worth the entertaining viewing, and one that Discworld fans and newbies will all enjoy. If you can get past the sketchy animation, there is little better. On to "Soul Music."

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Witches wild.
Review: The king is dead, and the baby prince is placed in the hands of a coven of (three) witches. The witches scheme to return the prince to his throne, while the usurper and his wife scheme to discredit the witches. This mini-series comes on three tapes, each containing two half-hour episodes.

First of all, let me say that I have not read the book upon which this movie is based, so I cannot say how closely it matches the book. The story is entertaining, and the quality is at least as good as much of what is seen on American TV. My one grievance with this story is the ending; a strange sleight-of-hand occurs that does not appear to make any sense. Inquiring of people who read the book I found that a key occurrence is omitted from the show, making the ending somewhat incoherent.

However, in spite of this, the show is very funny and suitable for viewer of any age. Feel free to watch it in front of the children, you (and they) will enjoy it.


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