The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

registered · Posted: Tue May 03, 2005 12:41 pm

I've read all five books of the Hitchhiker's Trilogy. I thought they were all, for the most part, hilarious; getting past the atheistic philosophies isn't hard when you look at it for what it is: mindless comedy.

The book's humor lay less in the adventure contained therein than the observations about Earth and human life made through the ridiculousness of the galaxy that Arthur Dent suddenly finds himself thrust into. Babel fish, improbability drives, a galactic president with two heads; they're all just facets of a spoof on mankind. What makes the books so funny and relevant is the wordplay, not the images. And this, I believe, is why the movie fails in such a basic way.

This movie does include most of the events that take place in Hitchhiker's, but it's at such a break-neck pace that you don't have time to develop sympathy for any of the characters. This is made even worse by the fact that new and pointless plot elements are added to the movie that pull it completely off-course and take away time that should be spent delving into the original story.

I find this particularly disappointing when the movie looks so fantastic. It's a beautiful film, with great CGI and some wonderful actors (though Mos Def plays Ford Prefect with such monotony that you get the idea that he has no idea how the play the character so he doesn't play him at all).

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a disappointing and ultimately boring outing, particularly if you've never read the books. My wife fell asleep next to me, and I only chuckled a few times myself.

Useless Joined: Aug 23, 2002 Posts: 213 Location: Chicago

I saw that movie last night and did not like a bit.

New Member Joined: May 11, 2005 Posts: 4

oh, thats no good. i've never read the books (though I want to) but i've got it read aloud on record and cd, which is hilarious. I was looking foward to the movie.

Worker Joined: Oct 07, 2003 Posts: 211

Geez, I must be crazy. I took four of my kids and we all laughed our butts off! I enjoyed the movie thoroughly. I also read all the books before the movie. It does help understand it a little.

What people should understand is the movie was to have fun with. Just like one of the old Monty Python movies. Great for laughs, just don't take it too seriously.