CHRISTMAS PARTY: Hogfather (2006)
Today in the Christmas Party, it's time to review a new movie based on one of my favorite seasonal novels. It's not exactly a "Christmas" story, per se... this is one of those other holidays people are always on about this time of year. Happy Hogswatch, folks...
Terry Pratchett's Hogfather (2006)
If you aren't familiar with Terry Pratchett's fantastic novels of Discworld, you're cheating yourself. Much as Douglas Adams took the conventions of science fiction and cheerfully lampooned them with his Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, Pratchett spoofs fantasy novels with the Discworld books. However, a much larger cast of characters and an uncanny ability to do modern satire in a medieval fantasy world has managed to give Discworld much greater longevity than the adventures of Arthur Dent. The Discworld novels are also relatively self-contained. There are several recurring sets of characters, but the books can be read in more or less any order.
Hogfather is one of the tales of Death, the scythe-wielding grim reaper of the Discworld, and one of Pratchett's most entertaining characters (perhaps because of his propensity for speaking in al capital letters). The Discworld has its own winter holiday, Hogswatch, a magical night once a year when the Hogfather rides through the sky in his sleigh pulled by a team of flying pigs to deliver gifts to all the good little boys and girls. One year, though, a group of mysterious, shrouded creatures calling themselves the Auditors does the unthinkable -- they hire the Assassin's Guild of Ankh-Morpork to have the Hogfather put to death. And the Assassin's Guild always gets their man. When Death arrives to collect the Hogfather's spirit, he realizes that a far greater danger than one death has been made evident. The Hogfather, like all gods and demigods on the Disc, is created by the force of belief that people have for them. With the Hogfather dead, belief begins to plummet, and if people don't regain their faith in him, the sun itself may cease rising by morning.
Death is forced to take up the mantle of the Hogfather himself, while the Assassin Teatime (it's pronounced "Tay-eh-tim-eh"), and that leaves only one person to investigate the murder -- his granddaughter, Susan, who has been trying to avoid her unusual legacy and lead a normal life as a nanny. Susan chases after the killer, joining forces with the God of Hangovers, a tooth fairy named Violet, and ultimately uncovering the Boogeyman's greatest secret... and all before the sun comes up.
In the remarkably faithful British TV miniseries (now available on DVD, but exclusively at Border's in the USA), Michelle Dockery takes on the role of Susan, leading a wonderful, talented cast. Aside from being classically beautiful in a way that British film hasn't forgotten to appreciate the way Hollywood has, Dockery has a great, wry sense of humor that fits in perfectly with Pratchett's world. Marc Warren's strange, high-pitched voice makes Teatime all the more frightening, and Ian Richardson sounds exactly what you'd expect Death to sound like... grim, foreboding and hysterically funny. You can practically hear the capital letters in his voice. The film's fine performances and script are buoyed even further by fantastic costumes, set designs and special effects. (The Tooth Fairy's palace is as good a set as anything I've seen in any Hollywood fantasy film.) The story, like the book, ends with Pratchett (via Death) pointing out one of the great truisms of the human race.
This won't be a film for everyone, but it's as unique a Christmas movie as you're likely to find, and it's wonderfully entertaining. If you dig British comedy like the Hitchhiker's Guide or British sci-fi/fantasy like Doctor Who or Black Adder, this film is a great addition to your Christmas DVD shelf.