Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy [spoiler alert]
Went to see The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy last night with Mrs. Queeg. This isn't a full-on review, but rather my impressions from a first viewing. First off, I should say that Mrs. Queeg and I are big Douglas Adams fans and we weren't expecting to get our socks blown off by this film. Adam's writing style was so completely out there that anyone trying to bring his vision to the screen was in for a challenge. So, when I learned that the late Dougie himself had a hand in writing the screenplay I was cautiously optimistic.
My overall rating: *** (out of 5)
Some observations:
Everything in this movie is over-the-top. Fabulous. Captures Adam's writing very well. Visual style, dialog, weirdness, goofyness, madcap humour -- all excellently done. Unfortunately, a third to half of the story doesn't exist in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy book. That's right. Even though Douglas Adam co-wrote the screenplay, they just plain fabricated half of the damn story. Those of you who are Adam's fans and see this film will go, "What the f***? Where the hell is this coming from?" And you'll say it again and again.
That being said ...
The Heart of Gold was fantastic. A big, round, goofy-looking spaceship. Not exactly how I pictured it in the book, but it worked well. Unfortunately, it looked too much like Marvin's head ...
Marvin the Paranoid Android. Alan Rickman (IIRC) did a great job as the voice of Marvin, but that big head of his was distracting. Mind you, Mrs. Queeg thought it was very cute and a good contrast to Marvin's depressed persona.
Zaphod, Arthur, Ford, Trillian, Slartibarfast. Superb casting. The actor who played Arthur didn't quite play him as bumbling and lost as I would have expected, but he did a great job. Zaphod was as hilarious as you would expect, but the "head" thing was odd. I wish they had actually just done away with it completely. But as I said above, there are some strange story twists and Zaphod's head becomes a plot device. Ford Prefect was played to perfection. When he shows up at Arthur's house at the beginning, I was in stitches. Just picture a lush with a shopping cart full of beer. And then at the pub--glug glug glug. Good stuff, with a little movie creative license, but close to the story. Trillian and Slartifbartfast: I swear they pulled these characters out of my brain, their appearance and mannerisms that is, and put them in this movie. Again, a wonderful acting job.
Vogons. Holy crap do they look cool. Er, friggin ugly, I mean. They couldn't have done a better job with the Vogons. From their ships to their appearance, to their disposition. Good stuff. I particularly liked the bureaucratic obsession they have, although I don't recall this being a Vogon trait in the book (I haven't read it in a while, so some finer details may be lost on me). Regardless, it worked well.
The Htchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. The book itself. Excellent use of interludes during the film from the Guide. Funny animations to go along with them too. I was really hoping these bits would make it into the film and wasn't disappointed.
Anyway, I've babbled enough. From the above it would appear that the movie should get higher than 3 stars. And you'd be right. There wasn't much I disliked about it. However, there are whole big chunks of this movie that I can't recall being in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy book. Big sections. Like a good third or so of the film. So, it's hard for me to comment on those parts, particularly the John Malkovich character. I have no idea who the crap he is supposed to be other than Zaphod's opponent during his Presidential campaign. Maybe this guy was briefly mentioned in the book (or a later one) but I don't remember him. Oh well.
LQ
Drunken DM and the Speak with Dead spell: "No, I'm not the limed-over skeleton of the abbot, and no this special key in my boney fingers does not open the door to the secret treasury! ... Oh crap."