Soul Music

Let's face it; the Discworld novels are rather uneven. The first three are barely worth bothering with. But then, Pratchett produced a novel, Mort, that was dangerously close to literature. Mort went on to be a stage play, and Pratchett went on to write other things. It took four years to get back to the Mort storyline with Reaper Man in 1991, and another three years to continue the story in Soul Music in 1994.

Having read all the Discworld books so far, I still think Soul Music is my favorite. Having played in a band myself, I could appreciate the musical in-jokes better than most. Imagine my surprise when a friend mentions casually that Soul Music was an animated feature and he had the DVD. A trade was arranged (one of my Bubblegum Crisis volumes) and I settled down to watch my favorite Discworld novel transformed into a movie.

So how was it? Oh, pretty good as a whole. After a stunning CGI opening which takes us on a quick tour of the Discworld, the film settles down to conventional animation with an occasional computer assist. My friend describes the animation as "kinda like squigglevision" (as in Doctor Katz and a couple others) but I have to disagree -- it's much better than that. There are a few places where it was painfully obvious that the animation team was trying to save a few drawings by playing the same clip over and over, but in general, the animation was adequate.

The voice talents ranged from excellent to really really bad. Christopher Lee was excellent as Death, as was Debra Gillett as Susan, Death's Granddaughter. The voices of the band (Lias, Glod, and Buddy) were very good. Other voices were adequate, with the exception of the wizards at Unseen University. Yes, I know they were supposed to be petty old men, but why did they have to have the pitch, tonality and speech patterns of Smurfs? It became irritating after awhile. I found myself getting restless whenever the wizards were on the screen, wishing the scene would be over. It's a mystery how such bad choices could co-exist with such good choices.

Plotwise, most everything is there. The story was shortened in a few spots, which is reasonable when filming a novel. Sometimes the editing destroyed a joke; for instance, when Nobby and Sgt Colon comment "there she goes -- Susan Death" the joke falls flat for lack of the earlier setup. "Wasn't that death?" "I dunno, it looked more like a Susan." I believe from the description in the book that Pratchett intended the sound of the shop fading and reappearing to be the Dr. Who Tardis sound, but maybe they couldn't get permission to use that.

Much of the humor of the novel manages to make it into the film, and it's still funny. I laughed out loud a few times, more out of surprise that a favorite joke was delivered well.

All in all, the film has a few flaws but is definitely worth watching. I've just learned that Wyrd Sisters has also been filmed. I can't wait.

Now if only they would film Hogfather...

First of all, I would like to say that I have not YET read the book when I first saw this, simply because I had never even heard of Discworld (besides seeing some of books around here and there). I've read quite a few complaints about the animation technique used in this film. I personally think it's great! It somehow fits excellently together with the weird and unique universe that the Discworld is. Although, I gotta agree that the use of recycled characters (such as the maids at the Unseen University) could have been done better. Just like they shouldn't have looped scenes etc. But these small "flaws" doesn't even come near into ruining this great series. The story is interesting, though I gotta say that I enjoyed the scenes with the band, more than with Susan. There's no doubt that most of the voice talents are excellent, even for some of the minor characters. Such as the wannabe "Music With Rocks In" band and the long haired assisant at the Unseen University. The music is nicely made too, and it's funny to listen to how it starts with Elvis type music, moves up to Jerry Lee Lewis, then The Beatles, heads into Jimi Hendrix and ends with a Van Halen 80's style rock.

I watched the videos all the way through, and somehow I feel them to be an embarrassment to the books - I found the animation to be a bit crude, and not as I had imagined the scenarios. But of course, it's impossible to make an animated film that's totally accurate, as everyone's view of the Discworld and the characters who people it is entirely different, and nothing could capture the humor in the narrative of DW books. The animated version of Soul Music is something to watch once if you like Terry Pratchett, but I don't think I'll be watching it again. Long live Great A'Tuin!

Death, with capital D, comes to a turning point on his existence. He's adopted daughter and her husband die in a cart accident. Death begins to wonder what is this all about. How do people forget?

So, as Death starts to prowl around the Disc someone has to carry on the business. Only one fitting the bill is Susan, niece of Death. And she's not very keen to carry on the family business.

At the same time young bard gets possessed by the Soul of Music. He begins to live for music. And Susan has to do something about this before all is too late.

In "Soul Music" everything is little bit better that it was in "Wyrd Sisters". Animation is a bit smoother, music is helluva lot better with a parodied touch of rock'n'roll music. All in all "Soul Music" is much more solid piece of work than the first Discworld movie "Wyrd Sisters"

As it has been some time since I've read the book itself, I cannot say how closely the movie follows the main plot of the book, but as it was with "Wyrd Sister" I recall that "Soul Music" is pretty much straight forwarded take from the book with out any additions or major changes, so fans of the series should feel comfortable with this movie. Atmosphere is just correct and places, especially Ankh-morpork looks absolutely correct.

Voice acting is as solid as it was on the first movie, with great Christopher Lee doing a fine job as Death.

All in all I can give "Soul Music" a solid number of 8

It is said that no movie may ever surpass the book it was adapted from. It's wrong. Although it is completely incorrect to say that Soul Music, the animated film (or series, depends on how you watch it. :)) is better than the book, because they are two completely different kinds of media, Soul Music managed to capture a deep essense in the book and give it life. The result - a movie filled with humor and fun, with the sort of fiction you can only bring to life with animation. If you see the movie after reading the book, unlike with other book-based movies, you will most certainly not be disappointed, because since Pratchett himself helped direct the movie, he managed to recreate the Discworld down to the tiniest detail just the same way he did in the books.