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HHGTG

So Dan0 and I went to see The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy movie tonight. We were totally “those guys” that brought towels and everything. We went into it not expecting much and really were just along for the ride. Opinions on the flick are behind the cut. You all know the story anyways (or at least I hope you do) so there really can’t be any spoilers… well, for that and one other reason… but you should probably read this after you’ve gone to see the movie anyways.

Very seldom does a movie provoke a response from me other than “I have been entertained”. This movie certainly is above the cut. I’ve never actually been saddened and disappointed by a movie before. I’ve seen bad movies, but whatever… There’s usually either some redeeming quality that strings it along and makes it bearible. Or there’s the off switch in the case of a rented movie.

If you’ve never read the book, you will have no idea where the movie is, has been, or is going. It’s just not possible. It’s so scatterbrained and loosely strung together that “those who don’t know” will be hopelessly lost in the sea of 5 minute scenes. Those who have read the book know abotu what is supposed to happen, so you already know much more about the characters and situations than the movie would ever give you. Zaphod is annoying and crude. There’s no clever egoism. no quip little replies to things. He’s more or less lobotimized for the whole movie. Trillian is typecasted from any other scifi flick. essentially helpless girl whose smarts elude her except for the one or two moments where she makes a minor difference. Ford is too slapstick to resemble anything like he’s supposed to. Marvin and Arthur are more or less as you’d expect them, but with any semblance of wit removed.

The movie itself is a hash-file. It’s written for fans and fans only. every 5-minute segment is a truncated version of what’s in the book with all intelligent humor removed. basically they are globs of reference material for fans to go “I know that scene LOLZ”. There is no plot stringing these scenes together. in fact, so little that they had to make up characters and material that were entirely absent from the book to make everything fall into a lesser state of complete disorder. The only reason I coudl make any sense of it at all was because, as I said, I knew where everything was supposed to be going.

The only glimmers of real humor were cuts of the narrations of the book done by Adams for the guide entries. anyone who has listened to his narrations on audiobook will recognize them. they make very cool “guide entries” that are animated illustrations articulated in the same way that Adams talks. they are clever, and I really enjoyed the precious few moments when there would be a guide entry for the babel fish or whatnot. I also liked hearing the original radio show theme that they played a few minutes into the movie. not because it added anything to the movie, but because it was very nostalgic to hear.

They seriously tortured this. It was a movie best left unmade. They took the book and removed Douglas Adams from it. I don’t know why, but I’m actually kinda pissed about it. I say there are really no spoilers because there is nothing to spoil. And I say you should only read this after the movie because if you’re a fan of the book you’re going to read it anyways, and I’m glad you did. RUN AWAY. DO NOT SEE THIS MOVIE.

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  1. April 30th, 2005 at 01:46 | #1

    *does not see movie*

    *goes to see Kung Fu Hustle instead*

    BTW, in regards to Shaolin Soccer – I’m pretty sure you could download it, too! Kick around and see if you can DL it (make sure NOT to get the US release, but to get the import from HK) and if you can’t find it I will send it.

    • April 30th, 2005 at 06:01 | #2

      I am sooooo gonna see Kung Fu Hustle.

      😀

      -paK +3

      • April 30th, 2005 at 06:30 | #3

        king fu hustle was awesome. if you want more details, look on teh OT. it was kung fu + spaghetti western + jim carey in teh mask.

        very entertaining. very clever. a step apart.

        BAM gives it a check plus.

    • May 2nd, 2005 at 20:07 | #4

      The Guide was entertaining but certainly could’ve been way better. Shaolin Soccer was sweeeet.

  2. April 30th, 2005 at 20:22 | #5

    ugh.

  3. Anonymous
    May 2nd, 2005 at 22:50 | #6

    i made fun of some of “those guys” who brought towels when we went out to see it in bellingham.
    maybe you know them…
    -sabominator

    • May 6th, 2005 at 13:43 | #7

      towels?

      Sephro == confused on this one…
      Then again I hadn’t heard of this movie until a week or so ago…
      Why bring towels????

      • May 9th, 2005 at 02:42 | #8

        Re: towels?

        Have you read the book? If you haven’t- do so, if you have, read it again. n00b:p

        speed safely

        Brian

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