So, we saw Hitchhiker's last night
May. 2nd, 2005 01:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
We were hoping that the Serenity trailer would be shown with it -- it wasn't, but there were a couple good trailers.
As to the movie itself -- I liked it okay; Lis was somewhat less impressed with it, although she liked it okay, too. We both loved the "So Long and Thanks For All The Fish" song that the dolphins sang, but other than that . . . well, HHGTTG is basically a series of sketches or scenes, put together in a somewhat-standardized order, done in various media. And so, for Lis, she rates a new incarnation of HHGTTG on 1) which scenes it includes and 2) how well it does them.
And the answer is. . . fine, mostly. There was one new character (the guy that Zaphod beat for President of the Galaxy), and one new concept (a gun that, when you shot someone with it, it made that person see your point of view -- IT MUST BE MINE!!!), which led to a couple new good sketches, but they left out many of our favorite scenes, and, in the ones they put in, they left out many of our favorite lines, and of the ones the put in, they were often delivered fairly poorly.
Oh, in this incarnation, Trillian and Arthur actually DO have some romantic chemistry, which is good, and new to this version. I rather like it, anyway.
Other than that, if you've listened to the radio play, own the record album, have read the books, watched the BBC series, played the Infocom game of HHGTTG and also the Infocom game Bureaucracy, and possibly also played Starship Titanic, well, okay, if you've done all that, you've done that, then you've ALREADY seen the movie so you don't need me to tell you what to do. And you'll not feel that you've wasted your money, if you see it at a matinee, for instance.
If you're not already a HHGTTG fan, you probably won't get all that much out of it. If you are, you'll probably like it okay, but feel vaguely disappointed.
But you will find yourself whistling the jaunty "So Long And Thanks For All The Fish" song on your way out of the theater.
As to the movie itself -- I liked it okay; Lis was somewhat less impressed with it, although she liked it okay, too. We both loved the "So Long and Thanks For All The Fish" song that the dolphins sang, but other than that . . . well, HHGTTG is basically a series of sketches or scenes, put together in a somewhat-standardized order, done in various media. And so, for Lis, she rates a new incarnation of HHGTTG on 1) which scenes it includes and 2) how well it does them.
And the answer is. . . fine, mostly. There was one new character (the guy that Zaphod beat for President of the Galaxy), and one new concept (a gun that, when you shot someone with it, it made that person see your point of view -- IT MUST BE MINE!!!), which led to a couple new good sketches, but they left out many of our favorite scenes, and, in the ones they put in, they left out many of our favorite lines, and of the ones the put in, they were often delivered fairly poorly.
Oh, in this incarnation, Trillian and Arthur actually DO have some romantic chemistry, which is good, and new to this version. I rather like it, anyway.
Other than that, if you've listened to the radio play, own the record album, have read the books, watched the BBC series, played the Infocom game of HHGTTG and also the Infocom game Bureaucracy, and possibly also played Starship Titanic, well, okay, if you've done all that, you've done that, then you've ALREADY seen the movie so you don't need me to tell you what to do. And you'll not feel that you've wasted your money, if you see it at a matinee, for instance.
If you're not already a HHGTTG fan, you probably won't get all that much out of it. If you are, you'll probably like it okay, but feel vaguely disappointed.
But you will find yourself whistling the jaunty "So Long And Thanks For All The Fish" song on your way out of the theater.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-05-02 05:34 pm (UTC)I liked the guy who played Arthur somewhat better than in the TV series, and I liked the movie Trillian a LOT better. And any movie that has Alan Rickman, even if only his voice, is okay by me.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-05-02 05:44 pm (UTC)Didja notice that the guy who played the BBC Arthur was the floating Magrathean head, "Your death may be monitored for training and quality assurance purposes"?
(no subject)
Date: 2005-05-02 05:49 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-05-02 07:26 pm (UTC)As I said in my brief review, I found the romantic subplot entirely unnecessary. I thought it got in the way of the funny bits, and couldn't help but feel that, had it not been there, the funny bits might've been funnier and they might've had time for more of them.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-05-02 05:35 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-05-02 05:37 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-05-02 07:29 pm (UTC)