I thought Zaphod was a bit over the top–I had always pictured him as more of an ethically challenged smooth operator than the idiot he was here. I wish they had just forgotten that he was supposed to have two heads.
I thought a few scenes could have been more fleshed out, especially the Deep Thought bit. I agree with those who said that a few key lines were dropped unnecessarily.
I had no problem with Deep Thought’s creators being little girls (in that dimension), but I really felt like Deep Thought needed the big booming male voice.
Those minor quibbles aside, I loved it. It was perfectly cast (Deep Thought aside), and it kept the feel of the books and radio series intact.
I’m worried that it is going to miss both ways–the true nerds will hate the love story and the Hollywoodization, while the general moviegoing public will scratch their heads over it. I worry that it’s audience will only be made up of me and people like me–DA fans from way back who are willing to get a different experience from a movie than we did from a book.
Saw it a couple of nights ago - really enjoyed it. It was different to the books, for sure, but the books are different to the radio plays, and again to the TV series. The audience seemed to be mostly fans - loyts of laughing before the punchline hit, that sort of thing.
I loved that the whale’s monolouge was kept - Bill Bailey did a geeat job with it, and meant I spent half the movie trying to work out where I knew his voice from (Black Books). I was disapointed the Bable Fish explanation was cut, but it wouldn’t ave been great on screen, I think.
It wasn’t as good as the books, of course, and I’m going to reread the series to see what I missed, but overall, I really enjoyed it.
I really enjoyed it. I’ve read the books three times and I felt it captured the book accurately, and the new stuff was in the proper tone.
On the actors- Mos Def was great, though in the book I always imagined that Ford would be more annoying, but the way his character was in the movie worked. I thought Trillian was cute and intelligent. Alan Rickman was perfect- I can’t imagine a better voice of Marvin. Bill Nighy was great- once again not how I imagined Slartibartfast from the books, but it worked.
Sam Rockwell was great. He was hilarious and exactly how I would imagine Zaphod to be. I must admit I am extremely biased though and have loved Sam Rockwell in everything I’ve seen him in, so YMMV.
John Malkovich’s character was somewhat unneccessary, but didn’t detract from the plot.
Also, I think everyone I was with enjoyed the movie. I saw it with two girls who had never read the books, and several guys who had read it several times, and everyone thought it was good. Several of us were walking out singing “So Long and Thanks for all the Fish.”
My only significant complaint is that they didn’t mention Trillian’s degrees. But she did seem to be the only one who knew what the heck was going on on the ship, and she was also friggin’ adorable, which goes a long way towards forgiving that lack. I fell in love with Trillian when I read the books, and Zoöey Deschaney didn’t do anything to change that.
I’m also a little worried about the possibility of a sequel. The end of the movie mentions the Restaurant, and it’s a Disney movie, so you know it’s coming, but… The book sequels wouldn’t really work with the changes in the movie plot (changes which, incidentally, I didn’t mind at all), and DNA is no longer around to dictate how the sequel plots should be changed to accomodate. Which means that we’re either going to see the book plots painfully shoehorned into the same continuity, or a hack job put together by some Disney writer not fit to buckle Adams’ sandals. Or both.
And to my eternal shame, I actually forgot to bring a towel to the theater :smack: Doh!
I’m a big HHG fan.
I mean huge.
The BBC mini series is the first television show I remember watching.
I’ve read and own different copies of each book.
I’ve played the computer game in its original format on an old IBM.
In other words I’ve been waiting for the movie for a long time.
And in my personal opinion, it is a worthy addition to the HHGTTG family.
My only complaints are a few good lines were cut (we all know which ones I mean), Zaphod’s heads, and the love story seemed a little to tacked on.
Otherwise I enjoyed it back and front. Some new additions fit right in and old jokes felt new again.
Casting was excellent. I never much cared for Trillian. But I loved them movie Trillian.
Some new stuff I really liked:
Marvin and the POV gun. As soon as I realized what was going to happen I laughed out loud.
The Vogon’s just looked great.
“Run away! He’s got a towel!” “There’s something in the way, we’ll have to go around.”
Mos Def’s Ford, and the way he met Arthur
I was also proud of the way jokes weren’t layed out for everyone. Some required thought or knowledge of the series.
All but the most puritan HH fans should enjoy this movie. And to all those puritans just one thing, HHGTTG is not about the source material, it’s about the silliness. This movie was silly. Hopefully the skipped lines show up in the next film.
I have to admit, I really liked the movie. It nailed most of the source material and the new stuff fit perfectly.
Like a lot of posters I was a bit disappointed that they cut bits out of various lines and conversations. I estimated that if they kept most of the lines (Fords conversation with Mr. Prosser, The “God” bits in the Babel fish explination stc.) they would only add another seven or eight minutes, if that, to the movie.
I loved the fact that, with this brand new, ultra modern, one of a kind spaceship in their posession, Zaphod and Trillian are lounging around in their underwear.
I loved the “Ball of thread” part.
I loved … hell I could go on and on about the parts that I loved and I could go on and on about the parts that I didn’t care for, but the end result will be that I enjoyed the movie as a fan and as a movie patron.
'nuff said.
I thought it was great. Bill Nighy was wonderful as Slartibartfast, Stephen Fry was wonderful as the Guide, and Helen Mirren was wonderful as Deep Thought. I thought the opening sequence felt tacked-on and unnecessary, but I’m not sure how else they’d have done the initial credits.
(And did anyone else stay for the bit at the very end? It was excellent.)
We did! As soon as they started, I knew what was coming, and started laughing.
I didn’t hate the movie, but don’t necessarily think it’s a classic either. It did a reasonably good job with the material. I don’t really think we needed the “happy ending” bit. But I understand why they did it.
I am mightily encouraged by all this. I’m not a DA religionist by any means (with Tolkien, I get a tad picky…oh, OK, I’m insufferable), so I don’t think the changes will be much of an annoyance. I frankly had a very difficult time imagining how anyone (outside the original Monty Python troop, and even they would be challenged) could really translate the utterly absurd randomness of some of DA’s humor into anything even remotely intelligible on-screen, and the Guide vignettes appear to go a long way toward preserving some of the literary nature of the gags. My disappointment guard is still up, but I may just go and see it now.
I’m wondering how they’ll perform Goodbye and Thanks for All the Fish at the Oscars, because it will surely be nominated. (Beyonce in a swimming pool, maybe?)
I agree about wanting to slap them for cutting the “leopard” dialogue, but I was glad that Prosser did look like a descendant of Genghis Kahn.
Saw it last night. Loved it. I’m not the kind of guy to watch a movie multiple times in theatre, but I’ll definitely be getting it on DVD and hoping for a sequel.
There were a lot of hardcore fans, some of whom were representing fandemonium.org. They held a trivia contest before the movie started. I took first place, and picked a copy of The Deeper Meaning of Liff; which I had been looking for a copy of for some time.
what would have been perfect is if Ford Prefect was actually trying to introduce himself TO a Ford Prefect, i was hoping this was the case, so i went to ford’s British website and looked at the lineup of cars, looks like the car in the movie was a Fusion, i then did a search for the Prefect, and it looked nothing like the car in the movie
i’d hazard a guess the car Ford tried to introduce himself to was a Fusion, not a Prefect, any BritDopers care to confirm this?
will be going to see the movie again this afternoon to catch more inside jokes
I’m not reading the thread because I want to avoid spoilers.
But…
Would the film be suitable for a five year old? I’ve told her the basic story and she says she wants to go see it. So what’s the deal with? Is it family friendly enough for a kid?
most of the “violence” is slapstick, however, Zaphod does undergo a rather gruesome offscreen “Cranial Restructuring” event at the hands of Humma Kavula, you don’t actually see the surgery, but it is implied, no blood or gore is seen though and the Mice are rather surgically intent on nicking off with Arthur’s brain on the Earth Mark II
no nudity in the film, minor bad language (in Hitchhiker-ese, Zarking and Zarquon, however, Belgium is not uttered)
the Vogons look deliberatly oozy and nasty, and could be quite scary for young kids
if the child is mature for her age, i don’t see a problem
[spoiler]I think Zaphod’s low budget kidnapping of himself and theft of The Heart of Gold is the funniest scene in the movie. I’m skill cracking up over him swinging on the bottle of champaign screaming “Wheeeeee!”
Alternatively, Trillian’s “That won’t work. I’m already a woman.” joke feel flat at both screenings I attended.[/spoiler]
