Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy Movie Review
My mother in-law and I went out to the movies today. We had been waiting to see the Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy ever since we heard about it from Jenny.
I’ve heard many things about this movie. Comments that it will not be as great as the original HHGTTG. I didn’t see the original BBC version myself. I also heard that they went with actors that were not too famouse so that the directors could focus more on the movie directing then having to deal with pampering the stars. Also, a relationship between author dent and trillian was added to accent the books story.
I’m not British and do not speak in the Queens tongue (I’m just a bloody American). However, I did get a lot of the humor involved. I think it would be best described as American humor fit for the Queen. Sure - some of the humor is emptyish according to us rowdy Americans. My sense of humor is corny enough that I was laughing my ass off throughout the show. Some of the humor had that backbone and spunk that us Yankees love.
Marvin didn’t turn out to be as bad as I had expected. He is a big bright ball of a robot that I would expect roaming in the streets of Tokyo, Japan. The voice for him brings him back into what I had expected him to be. Dull, Depressed, Angry at the world for giving him such pointless tasks that his brain could do 10,000 fold. He sounds like Dr. Lazarus (the British Alien Actor guy) from Galaxy Quest. Mom says that he sounds like Professor Severus Snape from the Harry Potter Movies (1, 2, 3, 4). It turns out that we were both rite. His name is Alan Rickman.
I read the books by Douglas Adams about ten years ago, so my mind is a little lacking in the details of the book. I may have to go back and read the books again because there were things that I don’t remember. I don’t remember the point of view gun (wich doesn’t work on women). I don’t remember anyone being hit in the face by fly swatters, or having there brains powered by lemon juice. Most of all, I was suprised that I didn’t remember zaphod having one of his heads severed. I always thought of his two heads as being side by side. I also thought that the book ended differently. Something about a giant golden tea cup …
The movie really focused a great deal on the Vogons and there beurocratic way of life. I also had the pleasure of sitting through some Vogon Poetry.
Vogon poetry is, without a doubt, the third worst poetry in the known galaxy. The second worst poetry is that of the Azgoths of Kria. During a recitation by their poet master Grunthos the Flatulent, entitled Ode to a Small Piece of Green Putty I Found In My Armpit One Midsummer Morning, four of his audience died of internal haemorrhaging and the President of the Mid-Galactic Arts Nobblng Council only survived by gnawing one of his own legs off. The very worst poetry in the galaxy was written by Paula Nancy Millstone Jennings of Greenbridge, Essex, England and was thankfully destroyed when the Earth was.
Trillian was just your average girl. She wasn’t one of those super hot models that would make your jaw drop. She didn’t even dress up in tight revealing sexy clothing either. She was just … average. I think this helped the movie a lot since the movie wasn’t about romance. Ok, there was the rescue of Trillian, but the main point of the movie seemed to be that it shouldn’t make any sense. Does that make sense?
Let’s have a return to normalicy for a moment. I really loved the movie. Although I didn’t bring a towel, I figured I was hip enough to get by without it.
On a final note, the concept of the Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy seems to be oddly in line of the concept of a Wiki. I wonder if one is already in the works for the HHGTTG.
Tags: Hitch Hiker, Galaxy, Movie, Review, Movie Review, Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy, Comedy, Film, Theatre, Trillian, Towel, Normalicy, Vogon Poetry
May 2nd, 2005 at 3:23 am
I’ve been re-reading the books for a pointless comparison with the movie. I’m not done yet, though I originally read them only a couple of years ago so I still remember some of it. I don’t think any of the things you mentioned were in the books. Zaphod has both of his heads, side by side, through the whole journey.
The really funny thing though is that none of it matters. I have a nice hardcover that contains all of the books. There’s an introduction written by Douglas Adams years ago that explains how the books and the original radio plays don’t match up at all and that there are even contradictions from one episode to the next. There’s no reason to believe the movie would be any different based on that (and of course they always change things in the movie versions anyways).
I’ll eventually get around to seeing the movie. Hopefully in the theater but there’s always netflix if not.
May 2nd, 2005 at 3:50 am
That’s an interesting piece of information. Thanks for sharing Lucas. By the way, I thought you were my brother for a moment. He has the same name, except he has a gravatar too.
May 2nd, 2005 at 6:58 am
That is my goal, to befundle and confuse..
It’s a good name, I think. Hardly anyone has it so I (apparently almost) never get confused with anyone else.
I should have asked the first time around, but did you actually see anyone at the movie with a towel? I’d never thought of that though it would be easy enough to do. I’d probably break out laughing if I actually saw it.
May 2nd, 2005 at 7:53 am
1. in my theatre, many had towels.
2. I liked h2g2 vs the book the same as I liked I Robot vs the book: “disregard the book, you elitist pig, and enjoy the movie, which will be in the theme of the book.” That’s the rule to enjoying this movie.
2. The h2h2 has a wikilike UI. In fact, the h2h2 entry at wikipedia.org points to it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H2G2
That’s 4 seconds at google that I’ll never get back.
May 2nd, 2005 at 10:17 pm
I loved this film even though it’s almost, but not quite, entirely unlike the books.