So Long and Thanks for All the Fish!
04/29/2005 23:25 Filed in: Movies and Television
The answer to the meaning of life, the universe, and everything is 42.
Okay, if you're already familiar with the book(s) by Douglas Adams (and if you liked them), you will like this movie. It's not a perfect adaptation because LOTS of material is left out. However, it's just about as good as you can get in a two-hour adaptation.
If you're not familiar with the Hitchhiker's Guide, but if you liked a TV show like Futurama (which ripped off a lot of material from Hitchhiker's Guide), you will probably like the movie.
Having said that, the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is about a normal fellow named Arthur Dent who loses his house and planet in one day as he is swept away from earth with his friend Ford (who turns out to be an alien) and embarks on an adventure with an assortment of unusual characters.
I know that's very vague, and I'm being that way on purpose. Part of the fun of the movie is the gradual discovery of things as the story unfolds. The screen adaption was written by the book's author, Douglas Adams, before his death a couple of years ago. Perhaps this is why it retains so much of the feel of the original story. Hitchhiker's Guide has some of the most unusual characters you will ever meet. The movie portrays most of them pretty close to the way I pictured them when I read the books and listened to the BBC adaption many years ago. The movie has some incredible special effects with some scenes that all but gave me a sense of vertigo seeing it on the big screen. The aliens were created by Jim Henson Studios, and they do a good job, but they have that fairly standard Jim Henson/Fraggle Rock look.
The movie is funny, quirky, and leaves you shaking your head in disbelief at times. But I also admit that it also grew a bit tedious now and then when I wanted the characters to just "get on with things."
If you're a fan, by all means see it. If you're not a fan already and know nothing about it, you're on your own. The movie is very British in style and sense of humor. If that appeals to you, I would imagine you will like it. I predict that this will not be a blockbuster, but the fans who appreciate it will be satisfied.
Overall, I liked the screen adaptation of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, but for some reason, I feel like I would have liked it more about twenty years ago. I wonder why that is?