Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy
Last night Kirsten and I went to see Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy at Flagship Cinema. Kirsten knew nothing about the story. I, on the other hand, had read all the books in the Hitchhiker series, so I had a pretty good idea of what I was getting myself in for.
So, let's get the obvious complaint out of the way first. I had a hard time understanding the characters. Was it because some of the characters spoke with a British accent? Perhaps. But the problem was made worse by the fact that at times the dialogue seemed to be muttered quickly and underneath the background sounds. If ever I wanted subtitles, it was for this movie. But, as the movie progressed things got better, so maybe it was just a matter of getting used to the accents.
Plot changes? Oh yeah. This is not exactly like the book (heh heh) but what did you expect? Douglas Adams has written several different incarnations of this story, from radio broadcasts to books to plays, and now to the big screen. And the screenplay for this movie was co-written by Douglas Adams, which means of course it's going to be different than anything he'd done before...his fans would probably be disappointed if the movie followed any of the other incarnations of the story too closely.
After all, I think the whole point of this is, you never knew what madness and absurdity Adams would come up with next, and if you did know, it sort of defeated the purpose.
But the good news is, the movie had some of the favorite classic moments...the falling sperm whale and the bowl of petunias, for example, the parallel between Dent's house and his planet getting destroyed, and the humorous narratives about the vastness of space, the worst poetry in the universe, the dolphins' farewell message to humans, and many more.
And of course, the cheezy dolphin song at the beginning lets you know just how seriously you ought to be taking this movie.
As we were leaving I asked Kirsten (who had never read the books) "Did you understand what was going on?" The reply: "I sort of understood some of it."
So, is it worth the money to go watch this in the theater? Depends. It depends on whether you're a fan of the books, for one thing. If you live near the Oxford Flagship Cinema where you can get in for $3.50, it might be worth it. And if you have a friend who works there who can get you in for free, then yeah, it's worth the money.
Posted On May 3, 2005 at 5:42 AM
On May 3, 2005 Anon wrote: Whats with the dolphins at the beginning of Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy? As one of my friends put it "I didnt think you could top napoleon dynomite for stupidity until now"
Doug Replied: Haven't seen Napoleon Dynamite yet, so I can't comment on its level of stupidity.
But anyway, the dolphins come into play more in a later book "So Long, And Thanks For All The Fish". Really, I think the movie started and ended with the dolphins for two reasons:
1. To be totally bizarre.
2. To give the fans of the book something to chuckle about.
And, like a lot of other stuff in the movie, if you haven't read the books you're probably left saying "HUH?"
On May 4, 2005 Kirsten wrote: The price is actually $3.75 not $3.50. I just thought I would clarrify that.
Doug Replied: Ha ha Kirsten...well, I suppose you would know that better than me.
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