Soul Music is based on one of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels (one of the really funny ones!) As with many of the Discworld books, this deals with something from our world ending up on the Disc – in this case, Rock Music…

Or, to put it the way the trolls say it, Music with Rocks In. Literally, they bang a couple of rocks together – and then do it again – and again. But when young a young druid named Buddy makes his way to capital city Ankh-Morpork, gather a band made of a dwarf (Glod- an incredibly bad negotiator) and a troll named Cliff (good trollish name, but a terrible name for a musician don’t you think?!) and gets hold of a guitar that is more than he can handle, a new sort of music literally rocks the Disc… (It’s from one of those shops that pops up suddenly and everyone knows that it’s always been there… and then goes away again without anyone noticing…) With this new music there comes a new danger to Discworld, a danger that only Death himself (an anthropomorphic personification, obviously) can halt… but unfortunately he’s unavailable, having gone off to join the Klatchian Foreign Legion “to forget”. Enter Susan – Death’s adopted granddaughter who seems to have some of his powers – guided only by a Raven who quoth a lot, and the Grim Squeaker (otherwise known as the Death of Rats), she has to save the universe. She finds a disconcerting and inconvenient attraction for Buddy growing within her as time goes on, which leads he to question whether doing the right thing to do is really the right thing to do. Added to all this are the efforts of the Musician’s Guild to put a stop to the new musical craze and the wizards of Unseen University trying to work out exactly what is happening – along with the tension of fame and success threatening to tear the band apart… and then there’s… no, you’ll have to watch it yourself if you want to know more! (Well okay, or read the book.)

The plot of Soul Music does stay very faithful to the book, and it’s able to fit pretty much every event of any significance in (being a short book and the series having a total runtime of just over 3 hours). The humour sticks pretty much to the book as well insomuch as it can, though due to the medium used it seems to have a much more surreal atmosphere, and throws in a couple of extra parodic elements. A lot of individual artists and bands get sent up in this as well as the whole rock music phenomenon. The characters are played pretty well with excellent voice acting (Christopher Lee being perfect as Death, while the voices of Glod and Cliff are inspired. Susan’s and Buddy’s voices are also excellent). There are also good visual depiction of the characters. The style is conventional 2D animation, though the introductory sequence was 3D computer animation showing the Great A’Tuin (a turtle) with four elephants on his back carrying the Discworld. The animation is pretty good, hardly Disney but then again not a cheaply done children’s TV program either. The musical style for the intro was suitably quirky though I wish there had been an option to play all episodes without seeing the intro each time. After the title sequence on each episode after the first there is a short resume of what’s happened in the previous episodes. (There are 8 episodes in all.)

Terry Pratchett is quotes as being very happy with this production (the same company also produced Wyrd Sisters, though I have yet to see it), and you can see why. It is obvious that director Jean Flyyn has a great affection for the Discworld novels. This is a very good translation of the book onto the screen although not perfect – mainly, it’s not as funny as the book. This is actually a fairly minor criticism as the book had me in stitches in several places, whereas this had me smiling a lot and laughing fairly often. The music is true rock n’ roll throughout, while maintaining its own unique quality. It’s a little difficult to know what a non-Discworld fan would make of this – perhaps for some it would be a little too weird, but I’m sure those who appreciate surreal humour and parody would really enjoy it.

I’m giving this 4 stars as it is very good but it could have been even better if it had been funnier. Needless to say, the scenes with Death in tend to be the funniest, but there are plenty of laughs with Glod and Cliff, Susan and the Raven, and of course the Grim Squeaker. Perhaps the surreal aspect of the story was somewhat overplayed, but Soul Music will keep all Discworld fans happy for 3 hours.

The DVD also contains an interview with Terry himself (it’s quite interesting for a while hearing him prattle on, and he shows a refreshing modesty, but he does go on a bit!), Discworld pilot (based on the Reaper Man book), storyboards, Pratchett’s biographical details, character details, filmographies, and a Discworld bibliography (ending in 2001 with Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents. Overall an excellent buy for any Discworld fan.

Rating: PG
Year of release: 1996

Quotes

Death: I need to imbibe vast amounts of alcohol.

CMOT Dibbler: I give you... the "Band with Rocks in"-tour-bus!
Glod Glodson: It's a farm-cart.
CMOT Dibbler: It's a tour-bus!
Glod Glodson: I know a farm-cart when I see one, even if it *is* painted blue...

Death: I shall leave your room exactly as you left it...
Susan Sto Helit: Thank you.
Death: ...- a *mess*!

This one’s from memory so it may not be verbatim!

Soldier: This is where people come to… you know… wassname…
Death: Forget?
Soldier: Yeah, that’s it!


See also:

Soul Music – the Book

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This review was going to be an entry into the Expand the Database Write Off - but apparently it was already on the database so I guess it doesn't qualify... but why not join in yourself anyway!?!?


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Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD