The Hogfather is Terry Pratchett’s take on seasonal festivities in his Discworld series of novels, and it was aired for the first time on UK television in Deccember 2006. (I’m not sure if it was aired in other countries, but Amazon’s UK site already has the DVD available is a pre-order item. I did see somewhere that a sampler was broadcast on US TV sometime in December as well.) For Discworld fans it is a very good interpretation of the book, while for those who maybe haven’t read or liked the Discworld novels before, this should still be an enjoyable film.

The plot basically follows thus – every winter the Hogfather goes round and gives children presents, eats pork pies (this seems odd for a hogperson to do but never mind) and drinks sherry. This year, however, it seems that he’s not going to show up – certain beings known as “Auditors” have reasons for wanting him gone. The Assassins Guild is called in – with the task being given to a promising, unconventional, and even for an Assassin somewhat scary student called Teatime (pronounced Tia-ti-mey), whose unconventional methods are highly effective but lack a certain elegance. Death starts to find out what’s happening and tries to fill in for the Hogfather, but it’s up to his granddaughter Susan to save the day – if she can…

Without going into any more of the plot, it’s enough to say that there are quite a few thrills and spills to be had along the way, as well as plenty of laughs. Director Vadim Jean also adapted the book to screenplay. The suspense element of the movie is given a lot of attention here and it’s not played out as a straight comedy. The surrealism of the situation and places is brought out quite strongly and the various places visited on the Disc are very nicely visualised. There are some great characters and a few very funny moments. Production-wise there is very little wrong with The Hogfather although it is perhaps a little darker than the novel, and the music, while good, doesn’t always seem to quite fit the movie. The introduction seemed a little long-winded and pretty superfluous, though perhaps less so to those who are unfamiliar with the whole Discworld concept. The special effects are pretty good and certainly add to the overall atmosphere of the surroundings.

There are some great performances in this movie (which was shown in two parts with a “what’s happening next” at the end of the first and a “what’s happened so far” bit at the start of the second, which hopefully will at least be skippable on the DVD release.) One of the real stars of the show is Michelle Dockery ion her second ever TV appearance as Susan (Death’s granddaughter), who gives an excellent performance and really does one of Discworld’s most interesting characters justice. As for her grandfather… if Christopher Lee isn’t available to do his voice, Ian Richardson is a very satisfactory substitute – he has the right kind of depth and resonance to his voice (aided by a little sound manipulation). Anyone who watched him as Frencis Urquet in “House of Cards” and “To Play the King” will recognise a little in-joke in The Hogfather - but the line I’m referring to is quite funny anyway. There are several other performances worth noting; in particular Nicholas Tennant as Corporal Nobbs of the Watch, Rhodri Meilir as Bilius, the “Oh God of Hangovers” (brought into existence due to a surfeit of available belief… you’ll know what I mean when you read the book or watch the film!), and Sinead Matthews as the substitute Tooth Fairy. The scene where Nobbs and another officer are called in to arrest the Hogfather impostor is wonderful. Ed Coleman as the youthful techno-wizard Ponder Stibbons was also superb. (Also, Terry Pratchett himself has a small part in the movie as a Toymaker.)

Of course, no film is truly complete without a really menacing bad guy (or gal), and in this case the baddie – Teatime – is played by Marc Warren, who gives a truly exceptional performance as the very creepy assassin. I honestly couldn’t imagine his character having been played better by anyone. Like quite a few others in this movie, he's hardly been in anything else - his performance here should kick-start his acting career though.

On the other hand, a couple of the performances didn’t really work for me. Much as I like David Jason (Granville in “Open All Hours”, Del Boy in “Only Fools and Horses”, and Inspector Frost in… um… “Inspector Frost”), I really didn’t feel he was the right choice for Albert. (Albert is Death’s assistant who would only have a few minutes left to live in the real world, but can go on indefinitely in Death’s dimension.) He had a few good lines which he delivered well, but he just didn’t seem anything like the Albert I imagine when reading the books. (Whereas the Albert in Soul Music, an animated version of another Discworld book, is pretty much spot on.) Again this is less of a problem to those who aren’t already Discworld fans… then again, I would think that it’s mainly Discworld fans who will want to watch this.

Joss Ackland as Mostrum Ridcully, the Arch-chancellor of Unseen University, home of the wizards in Ankh-Morpork (the capital of the main continent and biggest city on the Discworld), also didn’t convince me. Somehow both his look and manner seemed wrong to me, and this is part of the reason why the scenes with the wizards often fell rather flat.

Overall The Hogfather is a very good interpretation of the book, though anyone who’s already a fan will probably, like me, find some elements a bit disappointing. In my view they could have lost the narration and focused a bit more on the humour, but it’s still very much worth watching. Recommended to fans and non-fans alike, depending on what you thought of my comments above!

I’m not sure about the rating but it will almost definitely be PG – there were a few naughty words and a couple of scenes that might frighten very young children. I watched the version that was shown on TV (fast forwarding the adverts), and would say that it came to a little over 3 hours in total runtime. (Everywhere I’ve looked the runtime is stated to be 2 hours, but having watched it I don’t believe any of them! Each episode was 2 hours long with commercials.) Exactly how the movie will be presented on the DVD I’m not sure, though hopefully it will one feature without some of the preview / review bits. I’m just reviewing the movie itself as I’ve obviously not got the DVD yet (mooted for a March release in the UK.) It’s definitely one I’d consider getting the DVD for, and one of the best made TV movies I’ve seen for a very long time. It’s also noteworthy for being the first glance of many promising-looking actors and actresses.

(Thanks Millinocket for adding this tot he Epinions database for me.)



Links

Hogfather – the book

See www.darscom.net/discworld.html for ALL of my Discworld reviews (books, games, and movies.)



Recommended:
Yes

Video Occasion: Good for Groups
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 9 - 12