Monday, May 02, 2005
Review: Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
A few years ago was the first time i had anything to do with Douglas Adams and his craziness. The first few pages of the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy was something that i will cherish forever, for some reason they spoke to me. I guess it isn't that wierd seeing as there is so many people that love the books, games, tv shows or the original radio shows. When i heard about the film i guessed that there was always going to be one cause the concept has been translated to so many forms that a movie was a logical step. After all the talk and and rumors the first trailer was simply fantasic and i just couldn't contain myself and confessed that this movie might be one of the most important films i see this year, so i cut myself off from any material pertaining to the film so not to ruin it. When i saw it the other day i left with strange mixed feelings.
There were lots of good things in this movie, it had a lot going for it. The most important thing that gave me a reason to get excited about this movie was that the origianl screenplay was written by Douglas Adams, but the studios never really got behind the way he told his story and then he passed away and the whole thing was put on the backburner. Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy the movie was always going to get made i think so when things got moving again there was only a small change in the script, they just had to make it a little more hollywood but the story was still Douglas Adams. There were good things in this movie but having Douglas Adams write the main part of the script was THE most important.
With the script under control the casting was the next most important thing. With the casting i must say they did a perfect job. Now speaking of perfect, the casting of Mos Def as Ford Perfect, which was a major gamble and it paid off in bucket loads. During the whole movie Mos Def played his part in the film just as i would have imagined. The other players in the film also were very well cast. Sam Rockwell as Zaphod Beeblebrox was also great, by the end i nearly couldn't stand to hear him open his mouth his ego had gotten theat big but that was just how i wanted it. Every one i this film did a great job of bringing these much loved characters to life.
Another facet of the movie that was done well was the special effects or sometimes lack of. I was expecting a lot of effects in this movie for the main villians Vogons, but i was glad to see that they and many of the other creatures in the movie were puppets and they were simply brilliant. I love people in suits, they give a whole new level to the characters that all CG characters still dont fully have. The other top notch part of the film was the animation for the Hitchhiker's Guide To the Galaxy. it was great. The animation was done by the people that work with Juinor Senior. The Animation is reason enough in itself to go see this movie. I think the strongest point fopr this fil was the special effects. They were everything that you would expect and even some more with the excellent animation work.
The film wasn't all good, it had things that let the whole movie down. The bad points in this movie were really bad and just made this film worth seeing as a bit of fun and not a worthy badge to go with the other spin offs from the original radio series. Although the script did have touches of Douglas Adams, it was force feed a love story by hollywood, it makes me so angry thinging about it now. On top of the forced love story the story lacked detail the books cover so well in print, it's not that it was a bad way to tell the story, it just made it hard for people that have no idea about what was going on a little more confused. It was very sad that a lot of the one liners didn't work and that the love story was smashed into the script, but this really did bring this movie down.
On a whole i would go back for a second view of this movie because there were some parts that just spoke to me as a fan of the books. Unfortunately i will have to sit through the painful love story in the script but i is worth it to see the visual that are created by Hammer and Tongs the team behind the movie. I don't hold on to the hope that they will make the next one and even if they do i don't hold a hope they will be able to make it good!
There were lots of good things in this movie, it had a lot going for it. The most important thing that gave me a reason to get excited about this movie was that the origianl screenplay was written by Douglas Adams, but the studios never really got behind the way he told his story and then he passed away and the whole thing was put on the backburner. Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy the movie was always going to get made i think so when things got moving again there was only a small change in the script, they just had to make it a little more hollywood but the story was still Douglas Adams. There were good things in this movie but having Douglas Adams write the main part of the script was THE most important.
With the script under control the casting was the next most important thing. With the casting i must say they did a perfect job. Now speaking of perfect, the casting of Mos Def as Ford Perfect, which was a major gamble and it paid off in bucket loads. During the whole movie Mos Def played his part in the film just as i would have imagined. The other players in the film also were very well cast. Sam Rockwell as Zaphod Beeblebrox was also great, by the end i nearly couldn't stand to hear him open his mouth his ego had gotten theat big but that was just how i wanted it. Every one i this film did a great job of bringing these much loved characters to life.
Another facet of the movie that was done well was the special effects or sometimes lack of. I was expecting a lot of effects in this movie for the main villians Vogons, but i was glad to see that they and many of the other creatures in the movie were puppets and they were simply brilliant. I love people in suits, they give a whole new level to the characters that all CG characters still dont fully have. The other top notch part of the film was the animation for the Hitchhiker's Guide To the Galaxy. it was great. The animation was done by the people that work with Juinor Senior. The Animation is reason enough in itself to go see this movie. I think the strongest point fopr this fil was the special effects. They were everything that you would expect and even some more with the excellent animation work.
The film wasn't all good, it had things that let the whole movie down. The bad points in this movie were really bad and just made this film worth seeing as a bit of fun and not a worthy badge to go with the other spin offs from the original radio series. Although the script did have touches of Douglas Adams, it was force feed a love story by hollywood, it makes me so angry thinging about it now. On top of the forced love story the story lacked detail the books cover so well in print, it's not that it was a bad way to tell the story, it just made it hard for people that have no idea about what was going on a little more confused. It was very sad that a lot of the one liners didn't work and that the love story was smashed into the script, but this really did bring this movie down.
On a whole i would go back for a second view of this movie because there were some parts that just spoke to me as a fan of the books. Unfortunately i will have to sit through the painful love story in the script but i is worth it to see the visual that are created by Hammer and Tongs the team behind the movie. I don't hold on to the hope that they will make the next one and even if they do i don't hold a hope they will be able to make it good!
# posted by Chris @ 9:08 PM 
