The Amazing Maurice

The Amazing Maurice isn't one of Terry's strongest books, unfortunately. I'd rather seen the funds used for this movie be put towards a movie adaptation of, for instance, "Making Money". But as it is, here it is. A very mediocre cartoon adaptation of the very average book. Hugh Laurie and Emilia Clarke bring some much needed levity and energy to this otherwise humdrum affair. It's not bad, it's not great. It's just good. Watchable, but forgettable.

"The Amazing Maurice" is truly amazing. I thoroughly enjoyed the storytelling approach. The animation style is clearly meant for kids, but it contains hidden philosophical messages that only adults can grasp. Honestly, I knew very little about this film, except that I saw it on a list of recommended family-friendly movies for Halloween. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this movie! I highly recommend it!

Like most book adaptations, this one is never going to be as good as the book. Characters and plot threads are entirely missing, we never learn the rat language, and the pied piper's arc of the story is entirely rewritten into something with none of the wit and charm that Pratchett wrote the original arc with - among other issues.

As a movie it works, and it draws many things from the book and follows the major plot thread from start to end. The dialogue is mostly lifted straight from the book, even. ... As long as you don't overthink the plot and go "wait, did we just skip something?"

As an adaptation, I find myself rather disappointed. Dangerous Beans is reduced to a rambling mess of a character that makes no sense (and doesn't appear to be blind), and Hamnpork's character was forcefully merged with Darktan in a very clumsy way. Several moments key to the book - like the rats forgetting how to speak at one point - simply don't exist in this version of the story.

Watch it, but don't expect perfection.

I've not tagged this for spoilers, as the spoilers are largely for the book version of the story and the movie takes a different course.

Read the book. It's more coherent, more charming, and has a better second half.

What a pathetic bastardisation of the book, castrating the Pratchett story of everything at its core that made the book special. Some actors do a reasonably good job, I suppose, but that is not enough to save this abomination.