O Guia do Mochileiro das Galáxias

It's a tad hard to put my feelings about this version of the source material seeing as how I heard the radio play, read the books, saw the amazingly great mini-series, and even played the delightful text-based adventure game on my now ancient, then new computer. It's somewhat difficult to divorce my self from all of the aforementioned incarnations and just enjoy this film for what it was. Not to say that it was anything horrid, far from it. Some aspects of the adaption were pretty good. Martin Freeman (who was great in "The Office) made an enjoyable Arthur Dent, Mos Def came off far better than I would have even thought as Ford. Those are two things of the top of my head. I'm sure if I were hard pressed I could think of other aspects I enjoyed, it's just that all in all the movie fails sadly. It goes off on tangents trying to capture more of the books than can be fathomed in a film of 109 minutes and throws in it's own sub-plots that I wasn't quite fond of. My humble opinion ultimately would be to stick with the early 80's mini-series as that will likely be the definitive adaption that we'll likely see on either the big or small screen.

My Grade: C+

First, let me start by saying that this is a funny film.

Like many others, I suspect, I was worried by the MJ Simpson negative review, but having seen the film I can't really understand what all the fuss was about.

Personally, I am very happy that this version contains the new material. I don't want to sit in the cinema watching a line by line copy of the radio play, book, or TV series. Each of those stand by their own merit, and each were good largely because of the new material they contained.

I think the cast did an excellent job, and although Zaphod wasn't quite how I pictured him, Sam Rockwell brought a freshness to the part which largely works. His portrayal of Zaphod as a guy who "thinks he is cool", rather than "is cool" works pretty well, and once you get over the southern drawl, he soon settles as a character. Ford is beautifully played, as are all the major characters.

Admittedly, some of the criticisms that were voiced by Simpson have some justification, but most were simply overstated to support his general vitriolic attack on the "purity" of the film.

In summary, go to see this film and don't worry.

I'm looking forward to the DVD and I have all my fingers crossed for a sequel.

Martin

Overall a tremendous success. It's very funny, very kooky and visually gorgeous. I saw it with about 2000 media persons and we all loved it, which is a pretty hard thing to accomplish.

If you've never read the books (and I suggest you do, it moves at such a pace you might find yourself going 'eh?' a lot) then I don't know what you'd make of it. Think Monty Python in space, or a very British version of The Fifth Element.

As an adaptation I think it works extremely well though there were a few confusing moments even for me as the large philosophical questions were crammed into two hours worth of movie. The new stuff is cleverly done and works a treat IMO.

The cast: never been a fan of the office but Martin Freeman is perfect as Arthur Dent, Sam Rockwell hilariously OTT and Mos Def a surprising choice but one that really works. Trillian isn't that important in the novel and the movie bumps up her role to a love triangle situation between her Arthur and Zaphod. Again, Deschanel is an odd choice (another yank) but she is utterly spellbinding (oh the shower scene...hubba hubba).

The FX are great, both CGI and the Jim Henson creatures (the Vogons, brilliantly voiced by The League of Gentleman). The opening title song is worth the price of admission alone (think Eric Idle at his peak).

So I loved it, though the ending is also a bit of an anti-climax, but only perhaps because I was expecting something bigger. Still, it's p***-funny and that's the main thing.

Best moment: Ford attacks the Vogons with a towel and foils them by closing a tiny garden gate ("Oh no! We'll have to go around!").

I've read this series at least a half-a-dozen times.

Mos Def was HORRIBLE. I certainly don't remember the part where Ford Prefect gets a labotomy and mumbles throughout the book. In fact, Ford had no presence in this movie whatsoever! In the book he's witty, charming, mischievous. In the movie, he's a zombie. The scene where he's scarfing down beer at the beginning isn't even explained! It makes no sense without explaining that he's trying to minimize the effects of hitchhiking.

Zooey feels like she's reciting her lines.

Arthur is just some guy in this story who makes funny faces once in awhile.

Slartibartfast obviously had the same acting coach as Mos Def since they were basically the same character (mumbling, weird pauses..).

Kudos to Sam Rockwell as I kinda liked his Zaphod, but even that character fell apart at the end.

The ending. Whoah boy! Talk about dumbing the movie down for mass consumption and completely screwing up the events in the books. So I guess there's not going to be a prehistoric earth in the second movie because SURPRISE Earth was completely restored and everyone lived happily ever after.

Blech.

I keep hearing "True to the spirit of Douglas Adams!" Maybe the guide, the heart of gold and the parts that didn't have actors in it.

Try the BBC version. Sure, it didn't have the special effects budget, but it retained the story and the "spirit of Douglas Adams" much better.

When I was about 14, I read the Hitchhiker books and saw the BBC mini-series and was captivated. Now, decades later, I watch "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" and wonder exactly what I saw in it. Yes, I suppose it IS vaguely entertaining and occasionally funny, but it was not nearly as wonderful as I remembered. And, I am not sure how much of this is because the movie was only okay and how much of it is because my tastes have changed. Regardless, I found THIS movie mildly diverting but nothing special. However, it was nice to finally see a film version whose special effects were up to the job--as the BBC series was amazingly bad (even for the 1981) when it came to replicating outer space--and especially Zaphod's extra head. Sorry to be a drip--I just didn't particularly enjoy this film and found it to be just a mildly interesting time-passer.