Soul Music (1997)

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

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

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

In many ways this Discworld cartoon is perfect -- for example, who else could play Death but Christopher Lee? And the soundtrack, which charts the history of rock n' roll from Elvis, through the beatles and psychodelic rock as 'Music With Rocks In' is introduced to the Discworld, is simply brilliant.But there are times when it just fails to capture the same atmosphere and intelligence that is present in Pratchett's writing. Maybe someday soon a film with be made, after the success of Lord of the Rings, and particularly if the upcoming Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy movie is successful. And cast Christopher Lee as Death!!!

I have to say, when I heard about this movie I searched and searched and finaly asked my parents to search (they were far more successful) and so after 2 years of fruitless searching, Happy 19th Birthday Heather! It was fantastic. Even thought I think they got a couple of the characters wrong (Like the Dean- I like Paul Kidby's version better)and that the Raven was just damn annoying, I still really enjoyed this film. Christopher Lee is the only one who could do Death's voice (besides James Earl Jones)and they have managed to include most of the best parts from the book. Plus I really like The "we're bigger that cheeses" line (an nice nod to John Lennon). However, you can't say that it is better than the book because really it is almost impossible to be better than the original work. But even though this is true, it is still really good in its own way. It's a little strange in parts, but hey, so's the book. I have to say that my favourite part of the movie was Glod. He was done really well and got to keep all of his cynical, witty one-liners. The only thing I have to ask is how many letters they got about the blatent ethnic-steriotyping (and if you've seen it you'll know what I mean)? Even so, I recommend this movie to Discworl fans and non Discworld fans alike (although if you're not a Discworld fan and live outside the UK I'll be very surprised if you've even heard of it).

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!