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

ZombieDog’s rating: A rose by any other name

ZombieDog’s review: ‘Tis the season for Christmas movies. Ever since the invention of the Hallmark Channel, there has never been a shortage of seasonal films. For the actor there’s really no downside as you’re working, and, if the movie is forgettable, it will never be seen again. If it’s good, on the other hand, it will enter the Christmas movie play queue and a yearly residual ensues.

I guess this is what confuses me, because the best Christmas movies are just a little bit quirky and unique. The vast majority follow a tried-and-true formula and rarely stray, however, the ones that stick with you for a lifetime earned their place in your memory because they always hit home in that certain way.

The Hogfather is a Christmas BBC production written by Terry Pratchett and drawn from his Discworld series. Discworld is 41 books set in a sci-fi fantasy realm filled with magic and unusual characters. The really wonderful thing about Pratchett is that he has the unique ability to look at everyday memes and twist them into the bizarre and the sublime.

But there is a little problem here that I’m going confront right off the top. Hogfather is the 20th book in the series — and the first Discworld movie produced by the BBC. If you’re unfamiliar with any of the characters or the world in general, then you’re going to feel a bit lost. My advice is, don’t worry about it. Just sit back and enjoy the movie for what it is: a unique Christmas story.

Hogfather is unconventional to say the least. The Auditors, a group of extra worldly beings who monitor everything, want the Santa-ish Hogfather assassinated. To accomplish this, they visit the Assassins Guild and petition the guild master to accept the contract. With greed in his eyes, he is more than willing to fulfill the request for an exorbitant price and assign Mr. Jonathan Teatime (Pronounced “Te-ah-tim-eh), an exceptionally creepy and menacing assassin, to the task.

The balance of the movie plays out in that just like our world, as the Hogfather/Santa has a less-than-physical presence in reality (defined that how you will). No matter, Mr. Teatime has a plan, and he and his henchmen head over to the tooth fairy’s castle to break in. (Before I go any further, I want to flatly state that this is an adult film. Not with strong sexual content, but it deftly contains violence, torture, and unrestrained dialogue about mythology and societies in general.)

After murdering several people, Mr. Teatime gains access and control of the tooth fairy’s castle. He intends on using the teeth, which can be manipulated to control the children there. You see, if the children of Discworld stop believing in the Hogfather, the Hogfather will cease to exist. With nearly flawless execution of this plan, Mr. Teatime comes within reach of his goal.

It’s at this point that the Grim Reaper himself takes an interest in this very unauthorized murder. Realizing that something isn’t right, Death starts to investigate the disappearance of the Hogfather. To accomplish this, Death dresses up as the Hogfather/Santa and hand out Christmas presents (my bad, Hogfather presents).

By the time you get to this point, you realize that Pratchett is taking every idea, metaphor, cultural reference, or common experience and twisting it to serve the purpose of his story. The beauty is that many of these ideas remain intact yet somehow become more with his attempt to manipulate them. We see ideas such as good and evil in a completely different way as Pratchett pulls us through his Christmas story. Death is completely aware that the loss of the Hogfather would destroy the world. Although not in the way you would think.

Death realizes that he’s not making much progress in finding the Hogfather, so he enlists the help of the Wizards of the Unseen University. These are wizard academics who have insight into all things magical and practical. Even though Mr. Teatime has yet to achieve his goal, evidence of his attempt is being seen around the world including by the wizards themselves. When Death and his granddaughter (yes, Death has a granddaughter) show up at the University, they start to get a grip on what’s happening.

This is a very complicated movie to watch and even more difficult to explain, but at three hours, it’s worth your time. It’s just like I said in the beginning: The real Christmas movies that you remember, that affect you in some way, usually have something very unique about them. In my opinion, Hogfather is one of those movies. It addresses what exactly the belief in Hogfather/Santa is and why it’s important. More than that, we see the effects of generosity and the need to be around family. These are positive messages even though they are told in a very odd way.

The BBC produced three movies from Pratchett’s work: The Hogfather (2006), The Color of Magic (2008), and Going Postal (2010). Each movie has two parts, roughly three-hours apiece. I would suggest that if you are really interested in these movies and truly want to understand the world that that takes place in, I would watch them in reverse order. You get introduced to the story and setting in a more comprehensible way.

This movie is worth your time, but it may not be for everybody. It’s full of high concepts, and it’s long to boot. That being said, I think this is a perfect late-night Christmas movie for after the kids are asleep and you have convinced your other half to sit through a director’s cut Lord of the Rings-length movie with an abstract take on Christmas. It does pay off in that Christmasy way, and if it’s the only movie that you watch from Pratchett’s work, then at least you get exposed to a wonderfully unique writer.

If I had to offer a final opinion, it would be that the movie’s reason for believing in Santa/Hogfather is worth the effort alone. Always leave room for the magical and the mystical, it makes life that much more interesting.