broddybounce

Wonderful production of a mostly wonderful story

Revisado: 02-19-19

Alcazar Audio, located in Northern California and comprised of a group of working voice-over artists, did an absolutely beautiful job with this production. The British narrator, David Thorn, is astounding -- what a stunning voice! -- and is one of the best audiobook narrators I've ever heard. You will be delighted by his rich, warm tone.

The cast of many actors is also superb, a few standouts of whom include the actress who voiced The Patchwork Girl (terrific!), the actor who voiced The Shaggy Man, and the actress who voiced The Glass Cat.

My one complaint casting-wise, however, would be the voicing of the lead male character, the young boy Ojo. He appears to be portrayed by an adult actress mimicking a boy's voice and, with my apologies, it didn't work. First of all, it didn't sound like an authentic boy's voice; secondly, she made it sound more like a 6 or 7yo, rather than more of the 12 or 13yo that Baum envisioned for this character, evidenced via the drawings of artist John R. Neill in the original books.

I simply wish they would have used a real boy actor for that part, especially since the character is on almost every single page and carries much of the dialogue. His portrayal would have come across with a great deal more authenticity and not stuck out like a sore thumb.

If I may, one disagreement with one small section of the script that Alcazar adapted for this production. A minor character who appears in the last quarter of the book is a lazy Quadling Man who lives on the river. In the voicing, the producer allows the actor to sound as if he were a California surfer dude and to let him say, numerous times, the actual word "dude" (e.g., "oh, no, dude!"), a contemporary expression that certainly was not around when this book was written in 1913. I found that to be taking dramatic license to an unnecessary height and should not have been used. Other than that, they seem to stay true to the original writing.

I did give the story itself only 4 stars because, although this is definitely one of the better Oz books that Baum has written, and the story was compelling and highly imaginative most of the way through, the very pat ending was a major disappointment. I wouldn't at all let that stop you from listening to this audiobook, however, but I just needed to point that out.

I read these books as a kid, and enjoyed them very much, and still do. But now as an adult I do see that there were a few deep flaws in Baum's writing in terms of: (a) consistency with some of the previous books in the series in terms of story and detail; (b) some of his logic; and, (c) his sometimes taking the easy way out in the resolution of whatever conflict was posed in the plot.

But that doesn't stop me from giving this audiobook production 5 stars, as it is a great story on the whole and truly a terrific production.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña