5/5 A very funny and satirical sendup of magic, wizardry and the fantasy genre
  by buru buru piggu (New York, NY USA)
It's always difficult to translate a book to screen because of time constraints, budgets, and inevitably, there are many things that are hard to visualize or generally considered just "unfilmable". And of course, every fan has an image in his/her head of what a character should look and sound like. Fortunately for me, I was new to the Terry Pratchett universe and didn't have any expectations for this made-for-TV film. I was aware of some of the radical changes the producers made, but overall, I had a great time watching the Color of Magic and laughed out loud quite frequently. It is a hilarious sendup of everything we think of when we think about the fantasy genre, wizardry, and magic. After watching this, I became very interested in Pratchett's work and read up on Discworld mythology, so I disagree with the reviewers that this film is only interesting to existing Pratchett fans.

For the uninitiated, Discworld is a flat disc-shaped world held up on the backs of four elephants, who in turn are standing on a giant turtle traveling through space, a parody of ancient world creation myths, medieval astronomy, and cosmology. The story starts in Ankh-Morpork, a fictional city that looks like a dirty, crowded, industrial-age/Victorian English port, with a bungling and overly "mature" wizard named Rincewind (David Jason) being kicked out of the Unseen University after 40 years of ineptitude at learning even the most basic of spells. Soon Discworld's first ever tourist, Twoflower, arrives in town and after a series of comical mishaps, Rincewind is tasked, on pains of death, with keeping the naive (and wealthy) traveler safe. For die-hard Pratchett fans, they'll hate Sean Astin (of Sam Gamgee fame from The Lord of the Rings) who is a white American being cast in the role of Twoflower, who is supposed to be Chinese and from the exotic "Counterweight Continent", home of a powerful and rich empire where the land is made of gold. His casting choice was supposedly due to a decision to bolster the film's international appeal, and I found him to be terribly miscast, never being able to shake from my mind his doofy look, naive simplicity, and demeanor from his LOTR character.

For a made-for-TV movie, this film certainly feels like a much bigger budget film. The cast is filled with stars, though some only make minor appearances (like Jeremy Irons). Tim Curry is particularly fun to watch as the hilariously evil and devious Trymon. Brian Cox is equally outstanding as the narrator, and Christopher Lee as the voice of Death. The CG is fantastic and rivals any Hollywood production, with some very lavishly detailed. The costumes and set designs are also very well done and believable.

A highly entertaining and imaginative parody of the world and storytelling, I cannot recommend The Color of Magic strongly enough. For fans, it may be different from the book, but certain changes are required when translating to live action. Pratchett has found a new fan in me.

5/5 Most fun I';ve have with my clothes on!
  by Knight Errant (Washington, D.C.)
If you like humor, fantasy, satire or all of them in any combination, then you will love this movie. But be warned, you will then want to read all the books in the series on which this movie was based, and you will be hooked for life. Enjoy!

5/5 Another wonderful Pratchett film adaptation
  by Feather Rogers-Dayton (Seattle, WA, USA)
As a fan of everything Discworld, I really really enjoyed this film. It has the same wonderful magical feel that Hogfather did, and the same splendid attention to detail, for which my appreciation knows no bounds. It is really a treat to see this world come to life, and to know that it is in the hands of someone who not only loves and cares about the books and characters, but who gets the author involved as well.

I was very happy to see Terry Pratchett and Nigel Planer (who voiced a great number of Discworld audiobooks) in small roles in both this and Hogfather. Sean Astin was cute and innocent as Twoflower, David Jason great as Rincewind (though a tad older than I'd always imagined Rincewind being), not to mention superb performances by Tim Curry as power-hungry wizard Trymon and Jeremy Irons as cool-as-a-cucumber Vetinari (ooh, that Vetinari..)

We also get to see the Luggage come to life as never before, and I feel they got its homicidal nature spot on!

All in all, a lovely, thoughtful and fun combination of the first two Disworld novels. I can't wait for more!

5/5 OMG! Move over Harry Potter!!
  by Tracy J. Jacobsen (Opelika, Alabama USA)
As an avid Terry Pratchett fan I was afraid this would be disappointing. Instead, I was riveted to the screen from the start. The books are complex, witty, clever and satirical, which is a huge challenge for cinema. The omissions in this movie version are minimal with regard to the plot. The casting, special effects, scene construction as well as musical scoring more than make up for some simplification. Surely there will be more Pratchett movies done in similar fashion. The large number of Discworld books would make this venue a goldmine. I am ready to preorder asap. Bring 'em on!!!

1/5 Mostly disappointing.
  by foppagal (Englewood, CO)
If you're unfamiliar with Pratchett's work, this adaptation is unlikely to hook you. Instead of the sharp satire of the novels, it's just fantasy rehashed with some CGI and terrible, terrible acting. Sean Astin pretty much ruined this all on his own; there wasn't a single scene he was in that didn't leave me cringing. Worse, Jeremy Irons butchtered the clever and icy Patrician, giving him a lisp, of all things. I was embarrassed just watching this. Some of the storytelling was cute, but you'd be better off with the actual books. Hogfather was a thousand times better, and I didn't even like the original book all that much. Really, if you much be introduced to Pratchett through television, go with Hogfather, which was much truer to the book and to Terry's intelligent style.