Going Postal

I finally got the chance to watch the movie GOING POSTAL based on the Discworld book by Terry Pratchett. Here are some thoughts.

Casting. Brilliant. Unbelievable. (Click on actor name for video interview with actor about this movie.)

I haven't seen Richard Coyle in anything before but I thought I had because he looked familiar. That's exactly the sort of person who should be playing Moist Von Lipwig (see drawing above) because he's a conman--the sort of face that no one can recognize in disguise. And I thought his portrayal of Moist was pretty good. We get a little more sympathetic for him in the book but that's because we're in his head so much.

A lot of people we skeptical about Charles Dance as Lord Vetinari (most people's favorite Discworld character) because his hair is a blondish gray and Vetinari is supposed to have dark hair. But this is absolutely the only difference. He WAS Vetinari in this film, way more so than Jeremy Irons was in Hogfather.

Strangely enough, I thought that I was going to be let down with Steve Pemberton as Drumknott because he looks absolutely nothing like how I or most people seem to imagine Drumknott. But seeing him in the role, he ended up being my favorite casting choice. A little bit devious but believable as being the man who loves order and office supplies.

And of course, the most looked forward to, Andrew Sachs as Groat. Fantastic all the way through and embodied Groat without making me even think of Manuel despite the baffled expression Groat often wears.

Claire Foy was a little younger than I imagined Adora Belle Dearheart. But she played it really well--cold but with a soft side. And can I admit I didn't get the Adora Belle/adorable pun until the movie? *shakes head*

Speaking of adorable, Stanley was that. And Gilt was scary. Tamsin Greig (Black Books) was a great Sacharissa too. And Otto was in there too! So much detail. And it was good to see Ridcully and Angua too. I'm a little scared to see members of the Watch because they are my favorite and I don't want them to screw it up, but so far, their Visit, Nobby, and Angua have been quite spot-on in my opinion.

Writing

It was similar to the book. They had to change it a little to fit in 3 hours, but not as much as I expected. The book is heavy with themes. The movie focuses a lot on repercussions. Moist has dreams about all the people he's conned and how it's affected them. It's cool the way his dreams are in silent film style complete with the typed dialogue page. I don't remember the book being told in a letter the way part 1 was told as a flashback when Moist is explaining his case to Adora.

The story is naturally about trying to bring back the post office in a time of new technology. It's suffered under the Clacks, the Discworld equivalent of the internet. There are even parallels with a mobile Clacks and hackers, despite the fact that the Clacks is not digital--it is more like Morse Code.

They included the character Mr. Pony. He was pretty important in the second half, but I don't think the movie ever dropped the punchline about Pony Express. Why? It was my favorite pun the in the book.

Style

It's like a live action cartoon. The costumes are so perfect and the characters so exaggerated as they seem to be in Pratchett's satire. It's fantasy, but not serious and realistic like something out of Lord of the Rings where they try to make you believe in this other world and the humanity of the non-human characters. Pratchett's world is less gritty and more fun. His characters are 3-dimensional but have a cartoonish quality too.

And speaking of Pratchett, he gets a cameo in the end.


Trailer: