Official Synopsis:
From the imagination of best-selling author Terry Pratchett comes Hogfather, a magical and witty tale unlike anything you've seen before. It's the holiday of Hogswatch in the parallel universe of Discworld, the night when kids anticipate presents from the beloved Hogfather. But someone - or something - wants the Hogfather out of the way. Now it's up to the most unlikely of heroes to get the holiday back on track before humanity loses all hope.

  
Our Take:
My exposure to author Terry Pratchett has been limited to just one novel (that he co-wrote with Neil Gaiman) called Good Omens. I enjoyed the book very much, and I’ve always heard good things about Pratchett’s Discworld series, so I was intrigued when the oddly-titled Hogfather crossed my desk. It’s the first film version of a Discworld story (at least that I know of), and it seems to be something of a Christmas tale (well, a Hogswatch tale anyway, as that’s what it’s called on Discworld), but I’ve heard enough good things to want to at least give it a shot.

What I found was a delightful fantasy adventure movie with a nicely tongue-in-cheek sense of humor and a sense of the absurd that makes this genre-bending film quite a lot of fun. In Hogfather (which was apparently actually a TV miniseries, judging by it’s three-hour running length and Part One/Part Two division on the disc), a mysterious consortium of beings hires an assassin’s guild to kill the Hogfather (Discworld’s version of Santa Claus). Only a nanny with a powerful secret and Death himself have any chance of saving the Hogfather from elimination.

The film features a terrific cast of mostly-unknown actors, although Marc Warren from Hustle (one of my favorite shows) is almost unrecognizable as the child-like assassin Mr. Teatime. Also, one of the best characters in the film is Death, who’s brought to life via an elaborate costume. Yes, he’s the traditional black-hood-and-scythe Death, but he looks fantastic and the filmmakers do a great job of making him one of the funniest characters in the movie without resorting to whimsy or pratfalls. Michelle Dockery also stands out as Susan, the nanny who is trying to hide from her family’s heritage.

Hogfather comes to DVD as a single disc release, and the only extra feature is an Interview with Author Terry Pratchett.

Hogfather isn’t a special effects bonanza (although the effects are quite good) or an action-packed spectacular. It is, instead, a fantasy adventure with clever writing, lots of humor, and gorgeous production design. It should appeal to people who like the lighter side of things, but it’s big enough in scope to attract viewers looking for something more substantial. This is one that will likely fly underneath the radar, but Hogfather is a terrific introduction to Terry Pratchett’s popular Discworld universe.

RECOMMENDED!

Overall Picture:
Movie: B+
DVD: C+

- Mike Spring
Editor