Terry Pratchett's Hogfather is one of those incredibly wonderful holiday films you discover quite by accident, and it's so entertaining you begin to wonder why you hadn't heard of it before. Even from the opening dialogue, "Everything begins somewhere, although many visitors disagree," you know you're in for a very exceptional cinematic adventure.
It's "Hogswatch" (Christmas) on the "Discworld" (Earth) and the "Hogfather" (Santa Claus) has gone missing. "Death" (Yes, you read that right) and his granddaughter, "Susan," initiate a plan to find out what has happened to him, for without Hogfather all will cease to exist.
Hogfather, a two-part television film adaptation of Pratchett's imaginative novel, was first broadcast in the UK in 2006 and again in 2007. It's puzzling why this mind-blowing movie still hasn't found a home where it can be routinely televised during the Christmas holiday. Perhaps someday it will receive the recognition it rightly deserves.
The lineup of magnificent actors is astonishing: Downton Abbey's Michelle Dockery, David Warner, and Marc Warren (whose mesmerizing portrayal of the deadly and cruel, yet soft-spoken sociopath, "Mr. Teatime," arguably makes him one of the most fascinating film antagonists since Anthony Hopkins played Dr. Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs).
To describe this film is near impossible because it's like nothing I'd ever experienced before. The creativity and imagery are spellbinding. The best attempt I can make to describe Hogfather would be to say it is similar to waking up from an intense dream. At first you think it was absolutely real, but as you become more awake, you understand it was just a dream. Or then again . . . Was it?
No spoilers here as usual but I will reveal that towards the end of the film you should look for a giddily brief cameo of Pratchett himself.
It's "Hogswatch" (Christmas) on the "Discworld" (Earth) and the "Hogfather" (Santa Claus) has gone missing. "Death" (Yes, you read that right) and his granddaughter, "Susan," initiate a plan to find out what has happened to him, for without Hogfather all will cease to exist.
Hogfather, a two-part television film adaptation of Pratchett's imaginative novel, was first broadcast in the UK in 2006 and again in 2007. It's puzzling why this mind-blowing movie still hasn't found a home where it can be routinely televised during the Christmas holiday. Perhaps someday it will receive the recognition it rightly deserves.
The lineup of magnificent actors is astonishing: Downton Abbey's Michelle Dockery, David Warner, and Marc Warren (whose mesmerizing portrayal of the deadly and cruel, yet soft-spoken sociopath, "Mr. Teatime," arguably makes him one of the most fascinating film antagonists since Anthony Hopkins played Dr. Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs).
To describe this film is near impossible because it's like nothing I'd ever experienced before. The creativity and imagery are spellbinding. The best attempt I can make to describe Hogfather would be to say it is similar to waking up from an intense dream. At first you think it was absolutely real, but as you become more awake, you understand it was just a dream. Or then again . . . Was it?
No spoilers here as usual but I will reveal that towards the end of the film you should look for a giddily brief cameo of Pratchett himself.