Going Postal

Those who haven't discovered Terry Pratchett's brilliantly funny novels have a treat in store. Most of them are set in an alternate universe, upon a flat world that travels through space on the shoulders of four elephants that stand on the shell of the great Atuin, a huge turtle. Despite the fact that the Discworld is so fundamentally different from our own and his characters so fantastic, you will see yourselves, the conventions and concerns of your own world, reflected in surprising, hysterically funny, and entirely entertaining ways.

Going Postal is the story of a con man who, when his cons catch up to him, is faced with the choice of re-opening the derelict post office or dying a painful death. As he reluctantly takes up his post he is faced with the unintended consequences of his crimes and soon finds himself, with his engagingly unbalanced staff, committed to saving the post office, bringing Reacher Gilt, evil owner of the clacks system (rather like the internet without electricity) to justice, and winning the heart of Adora Bell Dearheart.

I've seen all of the Discworld movies and mini-series and enjoyed them ... The Hogfather was great, and The Color of Magic was wonderful,(although I felt Vetenari was a bit too much a comic figure in that one), but Going Postal is nearly perfect! Though I didn't envision the patrician as ginger-haired, it made no difference because Charles Dance absolutely IS Vetinari. The rest of the cast Richard Coyle as Moist Von Lipwig, Claire Foy as Adora Belle Dearheart, David Suchet as Reacher Gilt, Andrew Sachs as Groat and Ian Bonar as Stanley, all are fantastic. Even the Golems are just as I thought they should be! Going Postal is a must-see for any Terry Pratchett fan.

To be frank and honest, I have this on DVD and have watched multiple times as the Moist Von Lipwig focused stories are some of my favorites from the Discworld series, and the production from Sky gets enough right in adapting the story while still making changes to adapt the work for the small screen. Additionally, I felt compelled to write this review after attempting to watch the newly premiered "The Watch" from BBC America. While that abomination only has some names and plot points shared, this adaptation at least retains the right spirit and feel, there's a joyfulness and humour to the characters and their motivations that is completely absent from the new Watch adaptation. And while changes have been made, the overall story retains the right plot beats and characters, while not book accurate in some cases, still at least resemble their characters.

One stand out in mind is Charles Dance, his performance as Vetinari, the Patrician of Anhk-Morpork, is nearly a perfect match to how I envisioned the character while reading the books, exhibiting the right amount of menace and charm while equally being able to show the slight glimpses into the many depths of the character that are offered throughout the whole book series.

Andrew Sachs also did an excellent job as the most senior junior Postman, Tolliver Groat. David Suchet wasn't quite what I had imagined for Teacher Gilt, but he did a most admirable job in the role. Richard Coyle and Claire Foy play the leads quite well as Moist Von Lipwig and Adora Belle Dear heart, and they certainly look the part and have good chemistry. I was not completely on board with some of the changes made to their characterization, but accept the choices made because in the end the whole still resembles the intent of the source material.

I also did mostly like the Golems and their portrayal here, while understandably that is tricky. I would have preferred them seeming more amorphous and closer to lumpy gingerbread men in appearance, but the end effort still look like men of clay.

All in all, if you want a good entry point to introduce you to the spirit of the Discworld and get a taste of Sir Terry Pratchett's wit and imagination, this adaptation is probably the ideal place to start if you don't want to dive headfirst into the novels to start with.

I did like Hogfather and Colour of Magic too, but what made me like Going Postal best of all was that it was more solid in especially the story, pacing and acting departments. Not that the other two were bad in those categories, but they did have characters that weren't explored as well as they could have been or there were moments of sluggish pacing or forced dialogue.

Going Postal could have easily had those problems but it didn't really. Of all the Sky/Pratchett adaptations it is the best paced overall, while the story even with the changes is compelling and the writing is playful and witty on the whole.

The costumes are colourful and beautiful, and the sets and scenery are also stunning and the effects in general are above average though I wasn't crazy about the Banshee. The photography does very well to capture these lovely visuals, while the music is very good and the direction credible enough.

The cast I feel is the best yet. Charles Dance, Richard Coyle and Steve Pemberton turn in great performances, and Claire Foy is also appealing and David Suchet is an interesting Gilt.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed it, and while I liked all three Sky/Pratchett adaptations this one was the best. 9/10 Bethany Cox

First off, This is the third film based on Terry Pratchett Discworld and if you have seen the previous films you know they lacked in quite many areas.

As it happens to be, the moment I started reading Going Postal(the book) I thought for myself "This would make a really great movie!".

Why? you ask and I answer Good story that is easy to follow without any previous knowledge of Discworld. Small amount of magic and special effects that would require a 100 Million budget to make decent. This is where the previous movie Color of Magic went wrong.

So as it came to my knowledge Going Postal was the next movie to be made I felt quite happy, perhaps this would be the time when they got it all right?

Now that I've seen the result I must say that it was in fact, quite awesome! This is far much better than the mediocre Color of Magic adaptation, and it even goes ahead and surpasses the first movie Hoghfather.

There are a few things to hate about Going Postal though, and I believe these are the reasons some people absolutely hate this movie. I believe what all this is about is the use of Cinematic Freedom. First, Angua has been totally removed use some cinematic freedom and replaced with a "posh blond pale looking I'm not afraid to transform to a werewolf anywhere" girl, which many fans probably hate, I myself hate it as well. And even then they had to go ahead and make a wolf animation of her, the type of crappy animations I was hoping wouldn't be required in Going Postal!

Second thing to hate about the movie is the Banshee, seriously, it's the most silly piece of outfit ever seen! If you cant make a good banshee with wings, then use some of that cinematic freedom and just make him normal man dressed in black with some black smoke around him! As it turns out the banshee is the single most disturbing thing about this movie since everything else adds to an atmosphere that the Discworld is actually real. The moment this guy enters flailing his paper wings and screaming the whole atmosphere takes a big dip.

So now you ask, if the movie is so bad why did you rate it so high? Its quite simple really, because of the two things I just discussed. Because even if those 2 details could have been done A LOT better, there is the whole rest of the movie, and this is a movie that has great acting, great story, great atmosphere, great characters and not to forget Great Entertainment Value!

Going Postal is by far the best Discworld movie as of yet and if you are only able to see past the few bad drops in the bucket filled with greatness, Im sure you will come to the same conclusion as me.

Of the three Sky adaptations of Pratchett's discworld novels this is by far the best. The storyline is true to the book although,as with the other two discworld films, since the history has not been covered by previous stories, more explanation is required which can get in the way of the plot on occasion.

Clair Foy's Adora Belle Dearheart is a little too jovial and Charles Dance is not quite menacing enough as the Patrician. Nonetheless the performances are very good and certainly believable enough for a fantasy world.

Sir Terry's influence on the script is obvious and the Post Office building is magnificent in it's conception.

If Sky can keep this up then I look forward to adaptations of the witches and watch novels with eager anticipation.