In the city of Ankh Morpork on the Disc World the celebration of Hog's Watch replaces Christmas and the Hogfather replaces Father Christmas. A shadowy group known as 'The Auditors' have employed the Guild of Assassins to kill the Hogfather and they have sent Jonathan Teatime, a particularly nasty assassin to do the job. Teatime's scheme first involves invading the Tooth Fairy's castle where he hope to gain control over what people believe in. His actions have caused the actual Hogfather to go missing so Death, the Grim Reaper himself, takes over the role of Hogfather while his granddaughter Susan tries foil Teatime's plans.This two part TV adaption of Terry Pratchett's book is fairly faithful to the original work with its large cast of slightly eccentric characters. The cast does a fine job; Michelle Dockery particularly stands out as Susan, despite her third billing her character is definitely the protagonist; she does a great job in this early role. Marc Warren is suitably creepy as the sinister Teatime; at first I found the way he spoke rather annoying but the more I watched the more I thought it suited the character. The rest of the cast, which includes the likes of David Jason, Joss Ackland and Ian Richardson, as the voice of Death, impresses as well. I liked the portrayal of the Unseen University and the various bumbling wizards and the Tooth Fairy's castle… although I was less sure about the tooth shaped helmets the guards there wore, I can't recall if they were mentioned in the book or not. The story is told in a family friendly way; there are some mildly scary moments but nothing that is likely to really scare children. Overall I'd recommend this whether you've read the books or not; I enjoyed it when I first watched it without having read and Pratchett and enjoyed it just as much after reading several of his books including 'Hogfather'.

Those who are familiar with the author's works will no doubt have been impressed with the imagery of Ankh-Morpork. This, for the director would not have been hard to achieve due to the mass of material available in comics, artwork, games and other media already depicting the murky twin city. Where it failed for me was simply the terrible casting of the central characters, when combined with completely unimaginative direction utterly failed to deliver the sharp satire and irony Pratchett has honed over the years. Michelle Dockery's performance was sadly wooden particularly in her scenes with Death. Marc Warren, no stranger to creepy roles, although suitably pantomime lacked presence. David Jason was clearly cast only for a recognisable name in the title, the producers clearly not expecting the younger viewers to recognise the only talent on show,that of David Warner, the late Ian Richardson (competing brilliantly with Christopher Lee's sonorous baritone) as Death and the one inspiring moment of Jeremy Irons as Vetinari. I concede that it's not one of Pratchet's stronger tales but it does annoy me that some of these characters will be reappearing in future adaptations and there needs to be changes in the staffing of the pre-production team if these irritants are going to be ironed out. Personally my favourite characters are the collective City Watch and if they find any reason to squeeze David Jason in there I will weep. His casting as Albert was badly misjudged but his casting as Rincewind in the unpolished Colour of Magic utterly boggled. If I was 5 or 8 years old I may have rated it higher for it's Yuletide novelty value but i'm not so i didn't. Until someone of the imaginative calibre of Tim Burton or Terry Gilliam can be found,Pratchett's material should be left on the pages

I bought the DVD on a whim on sight - I've read a lot of Terry Pratchett and had never heard any of his stuff was made into a movie. I did not remember much about this one as a book. Well, the film was a delight. Susan is to die for, and Teatime is spellbinding. Indeed, that is the strength - there is some excellent acting, sympathetic to the book. The visuals are quite theatric - the special effects are not whiz bang, they feel more like part of the theater set - and the whole thing has a very human feel. The film is not quite like a book but it has charm and quirk and feels compatible with Pratchett. Overall I'm very glad I found this and enjoyed it. I wonder if they will do some more Pratchett? This proves that it transfers to screen.Colors are vivid, picture is clear, the score is average stereo, and the dialog is mostly forward and clear - all as you would expect from a made for TV two part special mastered in HD.

Part of the difficulties with translating a book to film is losing much of what the author tries to convey. Books allow the writer to squeeze in much more character information and wit, while films must do so in (usually) under two hours. Thankfully this duology expands that time line a tad to a much needed three hours and nine minutes. I say much needed because author Terry Pratchett's books deserve the full treatment in terms of time. But, unfortunately, even with this extended amount, the story suffers in translation. Although I must give credit to direct Vadim Jean (who also did the screenplay adaption and continues to adapt Mr. Pratchett's excellent Discworld series), it's tough to give a ravingly positive review to something that I enjoyed only marginally as much as the written works.I remember sitting in a restaurant on a meal break one day and having portions of a ham sandwich fly from my nose while reading Hogfather. Death (in the film voiced very well by Ian Richardson, BECOMING JANE) is a central character, and both the book and the movie keep it that way. But what is lost is the clever witticisms of the narrator (Pratchett) that often causes the reader to nearly choke with restrained laughter while trying to keep from puking or inhaling food particles. It was, however, pretty funny to see Death cloaked in Santa (i.e., Hogfather) garb while mushing a sleigh towed by heavily-tusked boars.Marc Warren (WANTED) as Mr. Teatime was a good choice, as he had just the right amount of ruthlessness (which was plenty) and naiveté (toward his fellow Discworld inhabitants) to make him a fearfully funny antagonist.However, from here things get off-track. Michelle Dockery plays Susan, the main protagonist, but is mostly lost amidst the larger story. Her part was vital in the novel, but here we simply don't see that much of her in terms of character development. Beating up monsters under the bed? Funny, yes. Trying to protect her scythe-wielding relative? Okay, pretty funny. But what of the rest of her development? In truth, there isn't any in the film. She simply rushes off to help save Hogswatch Eve without much knowledge as to why she's so gung-ho to do it.The remaining characters are also given excessively abbreviated versions, which made the entire film much less laughable. Indeed, I think I only chuckled a few times during the entire three-plus hours, showing just how much was lost in translation.I will say, again, that I don't blame writer/director Vadim Jean for this. Without a doubt, this is a tough sell. How can you make something so densely funny as one of Mr. Pratchett's wonderful Discworld books into a guffaw-riddled flick? I think the simple answer is that you can't. And I think this adaptation proves it. But I will give Mr. Jean credit for trying. He succeeded on a very small level but I fear those that haven't read the novels might be less-than-impressed.Sorry guys.