The Dark Herald Recommends: Terry Pratchett’s The Amazing Maurice
This is it.
This is finally the Terry Pratchett film his fans have waited for, “the looked for that cometh at unawares, the longed for that cometh beyond hope!” It is the Terry Pratchett movie that finally got things right.
At least for me.
Purists will doubtless be furious that this favorite scene or that was left out. And given that the RT scores for once seem to reflect the reviewers’ accurate opinions (due to a lack of bribery funds) score of 75% (audience score is only 70%), it’s clearly and obviously not for everyone. Americans who don’t get Brit humor should probably give it a pass.
However, for those of us who do it’s as big a treat as Nanny Ogg’s Chocolate Sauce…
… Okay not that big of a treat. Nanny’s Chocolate Sauce is likely to distract you from your enjoyment of the film, as well as anyone with a clear view of you and your date. It’s also a kid’s movie. So, no Nanny Ogg’s Chocolate Sauce.
Regardless, you’ll love it anyway.
The plot almost doesn’t matter because (The Darklings start chanting along): a story succeeds or fails in the style of it’s telling.
The style of its telling is what this story is all about. It starts with a narrator giving us a third-person omniscient overview of the story. This is known as the god’s eye viewpoint, popular in the 19th century but now used mostly for preludes or by Terry Pratchett when he’s starting a story because he’s allowed. Also, Malicia Grim (the narrator) isn’t talking about the classic narrative points of view, she’s talking about framing devices which in this case is Mister Bunnsy Has an Adventure, a children’s book where “everything was so nice and cozy it makes you absolutely sick.”
Malicia prefers a different kind of story, like the one that is happening to Maurice.
Hugh Laurie’s voice takes a turn for the admirably feline, the feline in this case being The Amazing Maurice, a sapient cat. He also has a pack of sapient, and slightly literate rats, as well a pet orphan named Keith. Maurice and company have a traveling road show, or to be more accurate traveling grift show. The rats invade the town, Maurice, after pointing out the problem (with an impressive song and dance number), declares that the only way to solve it is with the legendary Pied Piper (Keith). Keith pipes the rats out of town and Maurice collects the money for services or at least performances rendered.
I wasn’t too sure about the setting until I saw the Narrator had a copy of Twurp’s Peerage and a “The Luggage.” Once I was certain that this story was taking place on Discworld, I immediately made the low-energy guess as to how the rats got chatty. Yep, they used the Gaspode method for being cursed with intelligence. The Rats were eating the garbage out of the rubbish pile in back of the Unseen University. Which does not answer the unfortunately ticklish question of how Maurice gained the power of speech. He feels it’s unimportant, brushes the matter aside, and always asks any rat he catches if it can speak these days, so it really doesn’t matter anyway.
Maurice has convinced the rats that they need the money to get to the island paradise in the aforementioned book, Mr Bunnsy Has etcetera, where all the animals can talk. Maurice knows it’s bullshit but he’s a cat, what do you expect?
If you don’t recognize the bust, you can stop reading now.
Maurice’s crew head on to the next town, Bad Blintz, which appears to have a major problem with all the food vanishing. Rats are suspected but none are seen these days. They hook up with the narrator Malicia and the story begins in earnest.
That’s the setup and that is all the plot I’m going into. If you’ve read the book, you know what happens next. If you haven’t but like Pratchett but were silly enough to think you wouldn’t like some cat book thing, especially after having just plowed your way through Snuff and deciding I need a break from Discworld, you are in for a super treat then.
It gets the feel of a Discworld book just right. Pratchett’s warm but acidic humor comes vividly to life on screen
The Amazing Maurice is fine for children and is not Woke.
The cast is properly British and features people you have heard of like David Tennent, David Thewlis, Hugh Bonneville and I already mentioned Hugh Laurie. Emilia Clarke is playing Malicia and you can stop rolling your eyes, you know damn good and well she has great comedic timing.
I can hear an objection from someone in the back, I agree it’s not real Discworld without Death. Don’t worry it has cameos by both Death and Death of Rats. Death is played by Peter Serefinowicz (AKA the voice of Darth Maul).
Downside: The animation isn’t 2023 Pixar quality but the baggage that comes with any Pixar release wasn’t along for the ride either. The animation is theatrical quality if a generation behind.
Also, the theatrical part may be an issue. The movie couldn’t get much of a distribution deal. I only ran across it because I was driving past Speery’s Movie House,** saw the poster and got curious. I hadn’t even heard of this thing until then.
In summary, if you are a big Terry Pratchett fan or simply aren’t a total humbug in general it’s a great family movie.
The Dark Herald Recommends with Enthusiasm. (5/5)
*Who looks Pakistani but it’s 2023 and he’s the love interest.
** Speery’s is the local equivalent of Alamo Drafthouse. The poutine was great on a cold day.
