Hooves of Fire (1999) (TV)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

Richard Goleszowski

Writers:

Andy Riley (writer) &
Kevin Cecil (writer) ...

Release Date:

25 December 1999 (UK)

Genre:

Animation | Short | Comedy

Plot:

Robbie, an out-of-condition reindeer, tries to earn a place on Santa's crack sleigh team.

Plot Keywords:

Reindeer | Christmas | Seal | William Tell Overture | Skeleton

Awards:

5 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Robbie Williams	...	Narrator (voice)
Ardal O'Hanlon	...	Robbie the Reindeer (voice)
Paul Whitehouse	...	Prancer (voice)
Jane Horrocks	...	Donner (voice)
Steve Coogan	...	Blitzen (voice)
Caroline Quentin	...	Vixen (voice)
Jean Alexander	...	Mrs. Santa (voice)
Ricky Tomlinson	...	Santa Claus (voice)
Rhys Ifans	...	Head Elf (voice)
Harry Enfield	...	Old Jingle (voice)
Tony Anscombe	...	Elf #3 (voice)
Alistair McGowan	...	Des Yeti / Alan Snowman (voice)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Richard Frame	...	Bus Conductor / Polar Bear (voice)

Also Known As:

Robbie the Reindeer in Hooves of Fire

Runtime:

29 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Certification:

UK:U (video rating) | Australia:G

Company:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Trivia:

Originally, Rudolph's name is never mentioned specifically because of copyright reasons. Only because of this was its omission then worked into the plot as a running gag.

Quotes:

Old Jingle: Remember you are what you eat.
[Holds up a bag that says "Nuts"]
Old Jingle: Mmm, nuts!

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Troldspejlet: (#32.16)" (2004)

Soundtrack:

Crazy

Splendid entertainment!! (be sure to switch to UK voice talent!!!)

Everyone else has fairly well summed up this movie for you. It is a truly superb movie with tremendously good writing and voice talent (UK version).

As others have noted, the addition of a US voice cast is appalling!! Having seen the former release with ONLY Hooves of Fire on it, the default US voiced version which came on the new Hooves / Lost Tribe double disk was a shock! This does not mean that I don't like the voice actors, in fact I quite like several of them, but the UK cast is FAR superior. The problem is that this is a British comedy which has British dialog (as previously noted, the English re-writes don't work), and I kind-of expect the British accents (OK, I should say UK-ish accents since Robbie is voiced by an Irishman). I don't think you should boycott it, though, just make sure that EVERY time you play it for anybody you first go to AUDIO OPTIONS and switch to UK VOICES!! Trust me, you'll thank me for that...