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Hogfather [2006]


RRP: £9.99
Our Price: £4.50 (subject to change)

"The Ho, Ho, Ho Could Do with a Bit of Work."
Review date: 2008-05-10 Rating: 6 out of 10

In Discworld, the winter holiday is Hogswatch, which bears a remarkable resemblance to our Christmas. This particular Hogswatch, something is amiss, however. The Auditors have approached the assassin's guild and taken out a contract on the Hogfather (you know, Santa.) How do you kill a potentially mythological creature? Well, the guild decides to send their craziest assassin, Teatime (Marc Warren) to do the job.

As Teatime goes about his mission, the body count begins to rise, which catches the attention of Death (a wonderful puppet voiced by Ian Richardson). Over the years, Death has grown fond of humans, so he sets out to fill in for the suddenly missing Hogfather.

And Death's antics catch the attention of Susan (Michelle Dockery), his granddaughter. When Susan learns what is happening, she sets out to find the Hogfather and save his life, a mission that takes her to the Tooth Fairy's castle. Will she be in time?

While I'm not normally a fantasy fan, I had heard of Terry Pratchett's popular Discworld series. This British TV miniseries is based on one of his stories. I'm pretty conflicted about it. On the one hand, there was plenty of fun in the story and setting. The acting was wonderful. And the movie looked incredible. It was very state of the art and has plenty of eye candy. I especially loved watching the "computer" write on parchment with quill and ink. While there are some discussions about belief that will fly over kids' heads, there's nothing here that should really frighten them.

However, it moved pretty slowly. It is three hours long and could easily be cut down to two if they wanted to make the effort. There is a whole sub-plot involving a wizarding college that could have been cut and the needed information worked in some other way. Really, very little happens there that we need to know, although there are a couple fun scenes set there.

I'm sure the books' many fans will love this movie. Fantasy fans in general will enjoy it as well. The rest of us can do worse then this miniseries, but a good editing job would have made things more enjoyable.

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Reviews


Hogfather
Review date: 2008-03-21 Rating: 8 out of 10

Would probably have given this 5 stars if I had not read the book. The stories are never quite as good as your own imagination.
I loved Susan and the Death of Rats, but wasn't sure about Mark Warren's strange American accent for Mr Teatime, a British one would have been better, but he acted it with some skill.
Again contrary to M.Fenton's review, both episodes are on this single disk.
I will be buying the Colour of Magic when that reaches DVD, as Rincewind is the best character in all the Discworld!

Excellent adaptation of the Discworld novel
Review date: 2008-01-13 Rating: 10 out of 10

An excellent film to watch with the family if you like Terry Pratchet's novels of Discworld, particularly at Christmas.

The story is divided into two episodes, each with an introduction and a set of credits. Contrary to the inaccurate review above, both episodes ARE included on the disc.

The story is set in Terry Pratchet's Discworld at the start of the festival of "Hogswatch" which is extremely similar to our Christmas. Children are hanging up their stockings and hoping that "The Hogfather" (e,g, Santa Claus/Father Christmas) will bring them plenty of presents.

At the start of the film, four spectres who call themselves the auditors of reality pay a visit to the head of the Guild of Assassins with a most unusual assignment - they want to take out a contract on Father Christmas/The Hogfather.

It turns out that a very sinister assassin called Mr Teatime,
(pronounced Tay - Ah - Tee - May and he hates being addressed by the name of the meal) has actually done some thinking about how you might go about killing immortal beings like the Tooth Fairy, Death, or Father Christmas, and he is willing to put these ideas into practice ...

Mr Teatime's plans appear to be working when both Death, and Death's grand-daughter Susan, discover that something very strange is going on. Before long Death finds himself impersonating Santa (sorry, the Hogfather).

It's not often an actor who is merely providing a voice manages to steal the show, but the late Ian Richardson as the voice of Death, manages to do so here. Richardson even gets to reprise the infamous line of his almost equally sinister character Francis Urquhart from House of Cards - "You might think that, I couldn't possibly comment."

Richardson and David Jason provide an excellent double act with Jason playing Death's butler.

A very amusing film with some great acting and brilliant special effects and lots of highly entertaining details such as a cameo appearance for the Death of Rats. (Ian Richardson's character is referred to throughout simply as "Death" but in line with Pratchett's books he is actually the "Death of Humans.")

Mostly light-hearted but also includes some sombre and quite powerful scenes when Death eventually realises and explains to his grand-daughter why the Auditors want the Hogfather killed and why they have to try to stop this happening.

I can strongly recommend this DVD, especialy to Pratchett fans.

Hogswatch heaven
Review date: 2008-01-02 Rating: 8 out of 10

Really enjoyed this film. An enjoyable, funny twist on Christmas, without being too cheesy, gaudy or over the top, like some Hollywood Christmas films can be. Not sure I agree with David Jason taking centre stage in the credits and the box cover though.

The Hogfather 1 disc edition
Review date: 2007-12-28 Rating: 2 out of 10

The movie itself is great, well at least I think it is as this item only gives you half of the story, it would seem you need to purchase a second DVD to watch the full movie.

There is nothing in the decription to advise you of this!

Very dissapointed as I gave this to my Mum as a Christmas present and now cannot get hold of the second disc without purchasing a 2 disc edition (annoying as I obviously have already purchased the first one)

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
David Jason
Ian Richardson
Peter Guinness
Michelle Dockery
Nigel Planer

Creators:
David Jason (Primary Contributor)
Ian Richardson (Primary Contributor)

Director(s):

Recording label: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
EAN: 5039036035354
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: PAL,
Release date: 2007-11-19
Audience rating: Parental Guidance
Region code: 2
Running time: 184 minutes
Theatrical release date: 2006

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