Hogfather (2006)

Human beings make life so interesting. Do you know, that in a universe so full of wonders, they have managed to invent boredom.

Somehow I've barely managed to finish watching "Hogfather", still in due time for a "season entry". Which I'm gonna try to make it short, short ;) since I don't think there's anybody in the mood for long reads these days :)

We're talking about a two-part mini-series based on Terry Pratchett's Discworld universe. A parallel world, relatively similar to Earth as inhabiting population, placed somewhere in space, on which life is mostly concentrated in the Ankh-Morpork metropolis, a sort of city-state bearing some scent of a Victorian London. We don't have Christmas on Discworld, but we have something very similar called Hogwatch, the equivalent of Santa being Hogfather, who leads a sleigh carried by wild hogs instead reindeer. During a certain eve of the event a problem rises. Somebody hires an assassin to murder the mythical Hogfather, contract which is accepted despite the apparent impossibility of locating the victim, who even in Discworld it's supposed to be an imaginary being. And like that we get into a story that involves also the Tooth Fairy or even Death (yup, the one with the scythe and a black cloak), who eventually has to take the job of delivering presents given the crisis situation. And by chance Death has a granddaughter, half-human, having the advantage to be present in both worlds, so also able to try solving the ongoing catastrophe which seems to have potential apocalyptic consequences. What are these and how they're dealt with, in the movie ;) ...

I haven't read anything by Terry Pratchett. As a reference, after watching the movie, if it's of some help I could say he's somewhere between Roald Dahl and Neil Gaiman, with a consistent extra-dose of dark humor. The story itself gets slightly chaotic, and maybe a bit hard to follow at some points (especially if you're struck by a cold and continuously sleepy). Not to say that, ironically, the "boredom" part in the start quote can be successfully applied on certain parts. Overall, the movie could be easily classified as a children Christmas tale. However, the dialogue sort of contradicts this frequently, and probably that's the best part in it. From funny references to the socioeconomic implications of giving presents compared to the expressed wishes, up to a philosophy on the impact of belief in fairy tales towards moral values (which despite the light-spoiler, I've chosen below instead of a trailer, that I couldn't find anyway), there's a wide range of "food for thought" in this movie. Clearly more than what you would expect from a kids story, which far from perfect, it's still probably the most interesting "Christmas production" I've seen by now ;) Happy holidays to everybody !

Rating: 3 out of 5