Walking out of the movie theater after seeing The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, I felt a little like I had walking out of seeing Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone for the first time: astounded by parts, enthralled by others, but overall, a little disappointed at the choices the filmmakers had made.
Parts of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy had me in stitches. Seeing the Vogons, Magrathea, the Heart of Gold, Zaphod's heads, Marvin — it was all like a beautiful dream come true. Watching it, I could tell that the directors really felt a synergy with the source material and wanted to bring those visions to life. The decision to use puppets in many places instead of CGI was BRILLIANT (we'll leave my "Why Yoda Should NEVER Have Been Animated" rant for another day), the sets were stunning, and the casting was a stroke of genius.
Martin Freeman is Arthur Dent, in all his glory. I worried about Zaphod, Ford, and Trillian all being Americans, but they pulled it off brilliantly. I believed every single one of them in their roles.
Too bad they had rather a crap script to work with.
It occurred to me in thinking about this film to wonder why it had spent so many years in development hell before finally being made. Was it because film executives were afraid of the inherent strangeness of the story? Were they worried that it wouldn't appeal to a vast enough audience and end up as one large inside joke?
Probably. But the thing that really struck me after having seen the film, read the interviews, and judged the end product for myself , is that The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is what I've heard referred to as a linear story. It doesn't follow a three act structure. Even when taken with the other four books, the plot wanders and meanders the way real life does. Since it was originally conceived as a radio programme, the episodic nature of the storytelling bleeds over into the novels.
It is not, in short, a story that is readily adaptable for the screen.
Article comments
1 - Eric Olsen
terrific review Lacy - thanks and welcome!
2 - DNA
Why be so pleasant to Disney. They waited until Douglas Adams died to turn his masterpiece of literature into a long infommercial for Disney merchandise. I'd call that sick and disgusting, Disney has reached a new low. Boycott the movie if you do not want to see a sequel. And specially boycott the DVD rentals and DVD sales, for that's is where they always expected to see a profit.