Why the Director Switch?
Does anyone know why there's a new director, or why Vadim Jean chose not to do this one?
And does anyone know if Mr. Pratchett has greenlit any more of his books for production?
NO! Not the red button! -
Probably because Vadim Jean didn't make a particularly good job of the first two films? His pacing is completely off and not suited to Terry's brand of humour.
shareI'll fully admit that "The Color of Magic" was not well done, but I truly enjoyed "Hogfather". He did a far better job at sticking to the text of the story, introducing and developing the characters, and keeping the viewer engaged for the entire length of time.
However, he did seem to lose his touch with "The Color of Magic"; the pacing was COMPLETELY off, partly I suspect because he combined the two books instead of simply doing two movies. As a result of the combination, Jean changed many things that were key to the story, and left a lot out that came back to haunt Rincewind later. I'd have been more in favor of 2 movies instead of one mishmashed one.
It'll be interesting to see if this new director can capture Pratchett's genius for storytelling and humor, and if he lives up to the Hogfather expectations.
NO! Not the red button! -
Well, to me Hogfather was an exercise in patience - the cast was nice, the effects were...passable...but the directing and editing w e r e g l a c i a l l y s l o w. It seems every other shot is a silent (silent!) reaction shot. Reaction shots are for cutting to during dialogue, not afterwards. I honestly think that the movie could have been recut in a more efficient and humorous way to half the length and be ten times more enjoyable.
I've enjoyed the two previous Jon Jones films I've seen (The Secret Life of Mrs. Beeton and Northanger Abbey), and think the cast is phenomenal - plus, I actually like the source story. So, all in all, a much better chance I think for a quality product.
Hm, the pacing in Hogfather was good, but I too found it off in Color of Magic, and I agree that two movies of that one would probably have made a better result ;).
As such I cannot dismiss Color as bad, since I was rather entertained (though rather puzzled by the pacing at times). And a friend watched both movies too, without knowing anything about Discworld (besides the odd rantings from me;-). She was rather happy about Color of Magic, since it allowed her to get a better grasp of the Discworld universe much better than Hogfather did (she watched them in release order). And she could walk away from the movie with a better understanding of the Discworld, so viewing Color as sort of an introduction puts it in a better and more deserving light, I think.