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Taear
Nov 26, 2004

Ask me about the shitty opinions I have about Paradox games!
I've just come back from watching it. I'll preface this with the fact that I've read the books, and enjoy them. I've also seen the TV series, which I didn't like so much.

The movie was brilliant. From the dolphin song at the beginning, which I found horribly catchy, to Steven Fry as the voice of the Guide, everything was absolutely down to pat. I'll admit I had my doubts when an American was cast as Ford, and another American was cast as Trillian, but both of them carried their parts off brilliantly - I'll go so far as to say that Mos Def was better than the Ford portrayed in the television series, bizzare accent or not. Trillian was absolutely beautiful, and also managed to carry over the intelligence shown by the Trillian in the novelisation, which was terribly lacking from the way the actress portrayed her in the series. I found Marvin a little dull, in all honesty. But I don't paticularly like his character in the books either, so this wasn't much of a surprise for me. Martin carried off Arthur in a very good way, although I believe that his TV equivalent was a lot better. I was also glad to see TV Arthur make a cameo as the recording on Magrathea, and original Marvin make one on Vogosphere.
The actor playing Zaphod, Sam Rockwell, stole the show. He was consitantly funny, and managed to pull off Zaphod almost exactly as I imagine him - as a total egomaniac. I believe that whenever I read the novels again, his face shall forever be Zaphod, in the same way that the cartoon Granny weatherwax springs to mind whenever I read Soul Music.

I'm one of those people who detested LOTR for changing so much from the book. However, the changes to the Hitchhiker's story seemed to not make too much difference to me. I was slightly annoyed about the whole Malkovich storyline, and the lack of explanation for what, exactly, Magrathea was all about. Since most of these led to brilliant jokes (the Vogon Buerocracy, for one), I'm willing to quickly forgive. I did feel as though the story landed on the Trillian/Arthur romance a little bit more than was needed, but I understand that this is a necessity for films in the American market. Plus, since I have such a massive crush on Trillian right now, I can easily let that go.
There were many parts that I felt could easily have been left in, such as the discussion between Arthur and the descendent of Khan outside his house at the start, and I'm quite sad that the Guide entrance on towels was not included.
Personally, I feel that the PoV gun scene was quite poignant, but again, I'm rather unsure why that whole arc was included. Zaphod managed to come off as hilarious after the removal of his second head, and quite honestly there isn't really much story up until they arrive at Magrathea, but it wouldn't have been hard to perhaps include some more of the original jokes instead of this strange interlude.

The effects were breathtaking also. I sat in awe at the inside of Magrathea, the vogon ships positioned around earth, and many more CGI scenes. The guide itself was also portrayed in a manner that I believe did it justice, although I would have liked a few more asides from it. The Babel Fish and Vogons too were well carried off, especially in the scene around Arthur's house.

Overall, I give the movie a 4.5 out of 5. I believe the jokes will go over the head of a lot of the American market, but I still hope for a sequel. Go out and see this film!

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