Just saw it.
I approve…
I’ve read the series twice. (once when it was still a trilogy and once when the newer books started coming out)
It was an enjoyable film-
There were a few glaring differences, but I won’t spoil it for you…
I will say that I was glad to see that they stuck to (more or less) the scope of the first volume.
Now I’m ready for “Restaurant at the End of the Universe”…
Man, I promised my g/f I’d watch it with her for the first time…and I won’t see her until next weekend.
My faith in the film was restored when I saw the teaser about the guide’s role in the film. I was happy to know they decided to keep a lot of hilarious-but-irrelevant stuff from the book, rather than sticking to only that which pertained directly to the plot.
I just saw it tonight. I love the books and I was disappointed with the movie. It wasn’t completely terrible but I was really bugged by the way the movie cut out many of the best lines from the books. It wasn’t just that they dropped the lines but that they would keep the set up and then leave off the punchlines. The most irritating example to me was the famous babelfish discourse on God. They explain the babelfish and then ignore the whole part about God.
Another example is at the beginning when they lop off all of the funny about how Arthur Dent had to find the “public announcement” for the demolition of his house in a basement in a filing cabinet in a locked bathroom with a sign saying “Beware of the leopard” on the door. In the movie, Arthur just says “It was in a cellar.” Way to kill a joke.
They also cut out Ford’s “Mostly harmless” bit which was another of the books best passages.
On the plus side, I did like Marvin, especially Alan Rickman’s voice work, and I liked the sequences from the guide. I was put off by Zaphod’s accent at first until I realized (I think) that Sam Rockwell was doing GWB then I appreciated it.
Over all, though, I think the BBC series did a better job of translating the spirit of the humor.
Wow. I’m suprised this thread doesn’t have more posts.
I found it to be a shot of Sci-Fi surrealism that, perhaps because of the improbability drive, hits and misses. Half the movie I was either grinning like a fool or laughing, and the other half I was cringing. The script could have really used a rewrite, some shots obviously should have been reshot, the music overplayed some of the jokes as though it were a movie for kiddos, and the editor should be burried alive with ear wigs. Also, for some reasons certain punchlines were replaced with dialogue that was blah. With having said that, exact instances of all of these are pretty forgettable, but the good stuff has stuck with me throughout the day. The planet demolition of the Earth has never been done better in any movie I’ve ever seen, the planet factory looked splendid, Trillian was cute as the dickens, and Zaphod was a riot. I’m going to catch a midnight showing of it tonight and see it again.
Well, I really liked it. I thought it did a good job of capturing the feel of the book. Trillian was a huge improvement over the TV series.
RE: Zaphod–anybody else think, “why not just pay the extra money and actually get Owen Wilson?”
One question: Does the movie use “Journey of the Sorcerer” music?
Also, I heard the TV Marvin makes a cameo. Is it easy to spot?
Brian
I wanted to see it tonight. I tried!
I had tickets for the 7:30 show, but the theater ended up having technical issues and had to cancel all of tonight’s screenings. No fair!
So I’ll wait till Monday, when my friends are free again, and we’ll go back. Till then, I’m staying far from the spoiler threads!
I need to re-read this. Sorry, but I’ve paid little attention to other’s opinions. My opinion is that the previews indicate happiness. Though, it’s been awhile for me (I feel like a virgin) so I’d better cover the material again before viewing the movie.
My favorite part is the whale 
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L
Saw it and loved it. The movie really did an incredible job of capturing the feel of the book down to the anti-climactic nature. Very british too. The casting was perfect right down to the two mice and slartifartiblast.
I think the people making the movies were under the impression that the thing that made the books funny was the wacky imagery… and not, y’know, funny dialogue. Incidentally, I always imagined the petunias as being in a rather more ornate bowl than that.
There were a lot of in-jokes and references… but I honestly don’t recall laughing at anything in the movie. I don’t recall too much laughter in the theater, either.
Except the guide entries. And I think the only reason they worked is because they were, more often than not, taken almost word-for-word. Oh, and John Malkovich has the one good original joke in the entire movie, but I won’t spoil that.
Just got back from the 9:30 show, i went in with extremely low expectations, thinking "this is gonna’ suck bigtime, they don’t know where their towel is, they’re gonna’ Belgium it up (sorry about the horrible profanity there 
)
well, my fears were completely unfoundedLOVED it, there were plenty of inside jokes, the original BBC tv series Marvin was a welcome surprise, sadly no one else got it, i had to explain it to the group i was with after the movie why i found the queue on Vogsphere so amusing…
Vogon beuracracy is just as horrible as they make it seem in the book…
i like the way they presented the functioning of the Improbability drive (shades of the Red Dwarf Polymorph ep on the shape changing…)
Arthur, i think i’m a sofa…
i know how you feel…
notice Zaphod was eating Starbix cereal when we first see him, and it was the fancy box Starbix, must be before the Editor of the Guide sent the Guide backwards in time and sued the Starbix company for infringing Galactic Copyright laws…
i was resistant to the New Marvin at first, but Rickman did a commendable job portraying Marvin and his dislike of organic lifeforms (loved his subtle mutterings )
Deep Thought’s new voice caught me off guard, was expecting a DEEP BOOMING VOICE (that sounds like a 7 foot tall man who has been smoking cigarettes since childhood)
i did notice, however that…
the POV Gun/Humma/Milliways thread was left unresolved, can you say “sequel”…
i plan to see this one multiple times and WILL be buying it on DVD
loved the simple dedication at the end of the film…
For Douglas
i think Douglas would have been happy with the result
my rating, on a scale of 1-10, i give it a…
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(hey, you knew that was coming, right?
I see what you’re saying, but I don’t really see how they could have done any more of the funny dialogue than they did without me thinking “okay, this is great, but it would really work better if it were in book form”. I think the short animated Stephen Fry narrated parts were about as close as they could get. And I didn’t even appreciate these as much as I did in the book, somehow the visuals don’t really add much, the text stands well on it’s own, and the visuals are just distracting.
Ultimately, I don’t think the books or radio show translate easily into film media. I thought the film was kinda fun and the surreal visuals were very appealing, but I don’t think it will have the long term appeal of the books and radio show.
My biggest gripe with the film was
what seemed to be the standard Hollywood style restrictions on plot. The love interest angle is an example of that, although it seemed nice enough. But I had the impression they didn’t feel they could get away with leaving the earth destroyed and everyone dead, hence all those horrible scenes of everyone coming alright again at the end. That bothered me a lot.
Was i the only one who was thinking YES!! when Marvin picked up the POV gun and aimed it at the Vogons, the anticipation of their impending mental fate was more fun than seeing the results of a lone manic-depressive GPP Prototype mentally decimate the Vogon shock troops with a single blast…?
I was very happy with the movie. I steeled myself for the worst; for months I’ve been telling myself that I can’t expect it to be good, that it could never live up to my hopes. But as I was standing outside the theater, I was excited.
I had some minor things about the movie that I would have improved, but overall, I was just thrilled with it. The audience was very clearly largely made up of fans of the series. I can’t count how many times we’d all start giggling before a punch line was dropped, because we knew what was coming. I agree that it’s something of a travesty that the “Mostly Harmless” line was omitted, and as mentioned, I was sorely disappointed that the joke about seeing the plans on display was mutilated. But then, there are so many jokes that I wanted to see in the movie, and clearly they can’t all fit. And then at the other end of the spectrum, the bit where they’re waiting in line on Vogsphere, I thought they killed the joke about Arthur queuing as well. I think “I’ll handle this; I’m British” was plenty sufficient - the entire audience laughed. Adding on “I’m used to queuing” seemed unnecessary. If they felt the joke needed to be explained, why add it in at all?
I found Zooey Dechanel(sp?) to be highly annoying. I don’t know, for some reason I never got the vapid, slightly bubbleheaded impression from Trillian in the books, but she just seemed like a dingbat to me in the movie. But it didn’t really lessen my enjoyment of the movie.
Initially, Sam Rockwell really grated on me. I didn’t catch that he was doing GWB as Dio indicates; I just thought everything he did was way too exaggerated - and not in grandiose Zaphod style. I was very pleased that they threw in Gag Halfrunt’s “He’s just zis guy, you know?” line. I thought that was great.
The plot alterations I could deal with okay, and was prepared for. I loved the fact that so much of the script seemed to come right out of the books. All in all, I was very pleased, and can’t wait for it to come out on DVD.
At the end, the audience actually clapped. I’ve never been to a movie where that happened, but I thought it was perfectly appropriate. I have to admit to tearing up when they showed Douglas’ image in the closing scene, and when the words “For Douglas” came on screen. I’m never much affected by celebrity deaths, but I really was saddened by his. Maybe it was because I had communicated with him a few times online, but I think it was because I really just loved his work. Seeing “For Douglas” just reminded me that he really is gone forever, and I’ll never have something new from him to read; I’ll never discuss Mark Knopfler with him again, I’ll never get to remind him just how jealous I am that Pink Floyd played his birthday. And I’ll never really get to say So Long, and Thanks for all the Laughs.
Oh shit, that movie came out today? Had no idea. I’ll have to get out my towel.
Coincidentally, I netflixed the BBC miniseries for this weekend – good opportunity to compare and contrast.
Just got back from the late showing. Gargantuan fan of the books. Didn’t love it, but liked it quite a bit. Laughed little, but smiled lots. Enjoyed some of the new bits. Too tired to type complete sentences.
Oh, and make sure to stay through the credits.
[spoiler]i also liked that (most) of the jokes regarding the indigenous life on planet Vogsphere were referenced…
the trees weren’t shown, but to be expected given the industrialized surface of the planet
“Elegant gazzelle like creatures with silken coats and dewey eyes”, present (sort of, the gazelle that Prostecnic Jeltz was sitting on seemed almost fossilized) “that the Vogons would catch and sit on, they were no use as transport because their backs would snap instantly, but the Vogons sat on them anyway”
“Scintilating jeweled scuttling crabs, that the vogons would catch and eat, smashing their shells with iron mallets”; present
The Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Trall; present, but you don’t see much more than it’s eye in the cage, however i didn’t see any Vogon Grandmothers there, at least not directly…)
things i didn’t like;
the cutting of the bulldozer dialog between Prosser and Arthur
Arthur’s listed height was too short, he’s 6’ tall, not 5’8"
no “Mostly Harmless”
the Vogon Poetry Appreciation Chair technology doesn’t seem too sophisticated, bungie cords around rocks aren’t good P.A.C.'s
[/spoiler]
overall, i’m happy with the result, the minor annoyances are that, just minor annoyances
I saw the midnight showing last night. Went in with not many expectations. I’d heard about the review that it sucked and completely butchered jokes. True, there were a few they left out, but there were a few things that were new and surprising and funny like Ford reaching out to shake hands with the car, thus explaining his strange name
Mos Def did a wonderful take Ford, always seeming confused with how to deal with Arthur (“Would you like a hug?”)
Zaphod was annoying, and I loved it.
Trillian was much cuter, and more tolerable than her miniseries counterpart.
Alan Rickman’s voice over was exactly how I’d always heard Marvin’s voice.
Arthur was…well, Arthur. Plain and simple.
Cameos to look out for:
[spoiler]The miniseries Marvin in the Vogsphere queue, and Simon Jones, the miniseries Arthur, as the holographic recording on Magrathea.[spoiler]
Any that I missed?
All in all, it was a good movie, and I’ll be getting it when it comes out on DVD. Let’s hope they can find a worthy writer to do a sequel.
Oh, and one minor question. At the very end, on its way to Milliway’s, the Heart of Gold’s final shape change is into what looks like a portrait of somebody. Anybody know who’s it was?
I was panicking, but oh my goodness, it was so much fun! My friends and I all brought our towels (we were the only ones in the theatre to do so, seems, though we did see someone else with one at an earlier, sold-out showing).
There were little annoyances – dialogue that fell flat, jokes getting cut out (including the bit about God in the Babelfish entry was too much to hope for), lack of Mostly Harmless and other choice lines. But, oh man, who could hate a movie that looked so damn pretty? The Heart of Gold design, the bread knife (!), the Vogsphere (especially the bus), the Magrathean factory room floor, the new Marvin, Deep Thought, the yarn…it was all gorgeous.
(The part that MacTech mentioned was one of the big improvements in the movie. Done as it was in the book-et-cetera, it would just not have worked.)
And the moment when “Journey of the Sorcerer” began playing as the Guide came into view……oh, if only Douglas Adams were here to see it.
