The HitchHiker's Guide to the Galaxy
I just returned from a viewing of THGTTG and was apalled at the manner in which the silver screen has managed to destroy Douglas Adams' original text completely. Sadly it turns out that much of the original screenplay was written by Adams himself before his death due to a fatal heartattack in 2001. Well it seems THGTTH will not mean the same thing to those who read the original series and giggled over bits of Vogon poetry (O freddled gruntbuggly...)while chomping on a bag of potato chips and reading about the 'Dish of the Day' and a gloomy robot.
The movie starts out with a pretty impressive sketch by some dolphins who in my opinion out-act their human counterparts completely. Perhaps it has something to do with their intelligent looks and splendid acrobatics, but one does end up thinking, midway through the movie, that it would probably be a good idea to have the dolphins come back for a bit just to stop the audience from phasing out. There is of course the sequence where a nuclear rocket turns into an ill-fated sperm-whale which again breaks the monotony of the expressionless dialogue-delivery and lousy, ill-fitting outfits.
Martin Freeman is unimpressive as Arthur Dent, the existential crisis- stricken, surviving human in a green bath robe and candy-striped pyjamas. The Dent from the book did not appear to have an expression of perpetual acceptance pasted across his face as Freeman does. He IS in an alien spaceship. That DOES deserve a few raised eyebrows and perhaps a couple of 'good griefs' thrown in to make Dent more convincing. Mos Def as Ford Prefect is still palatable, save for his constipated look while duct-taped to a chair facing the torture of Vogon poetry. In my memory Vogon poetry produced much more disastrous effects on its listeners. It especially did not produce an effect which could be gotten by eating something disagreeable the previous night for dinner. The actor who does captivate our attention is Sam Rockwell as Zaphod Beeblebrox, albeit because he has two heads and reminds us vaguely of a mixture of George Bush and Richard Branson. Trillian (Zooey Deschanel) is easily forgotten between a towel-wielding Prefect, a posse of ugly Vogons and a two-headed, giddy politician (Beeblebrox).
Billy Nigh is however perfect as Slartibartfast (the architect of planets), and does manage to string a few scenes together which include excellent special effects of the planetary workshops strectching into infinity. Alan Rickman is the voice of Marvin, and quite effective. The problem with Marvin's character is simply that his head is too big and dominates the screen and isn't a very pleasant sight. Even the Heart of Gold is shaped like a bouncing ball and instead of being a wraithlike, transparent and feather-light machine is more like a chubby, white beach-ball, whose enthusiasm only makes everyone grit their teeth. One almost wishes the rockets wouldn't miss it. The animation for the text of the guide book is pretty primitive and could have benefitted from ILM maybe.
A personal peeve I have is the reduction of the role of the babel-fish, the description of which in the original was linked to God disappearing in a 'puff of logic' (if I remember correctly). In the movie its more like Prefect saying, "hallo there Arthur, let me pop this fish thing in your ear. It will translate everything for you." And Arthur replying, "Jolly good Ford, pop it in then." Atleast that's how it came across to me who was hoping for a bit of comic relief through a description of the babel fish rather than watching it being shoved into a human ear.
Bits of the movie do end up looking like something shot for Discovery Channel or Nat Geo. In particular are the 'life-cycle' sequences and overviews of animals and birds flying around etc and were probably taken from stock footage lying around in a basement somewhere.
My final comment on the movie: mostly unimpressive. :)
The movie starts out with a pretty impressive sketch by some dolphins who in my opinion out-act their human counterparts completely. Perhaps it has something to do with their intelligent looks and splendid acrobatics, but one does end up thinking, midway through the movie, that it would probably be a good idea to have the dolphins come back for a bit just to stop the audience from phasing out. There is of course the sequence where a nuclear rocket turns into an ill-fated sperm-whale which again breaks the monotony of the expressionless dialogue-delivery and lousy, ill-fitting outfits.
Martin Freeman is unimpressive as Arthur Dent, the existential crisis- stricken, surviving human in a green bath robe and candy-striped pyjamas. The Dent from the book did not appear to have an expression of perpetual acceptance pasted across his face as Freeman does. He IS in an alien spaceship. That DOES deserve a few raised eyebrows and perhaps a couple of 'good griefs' thrown in to make Dent more convincing. Mos Def as Ford Prefect is still palatable, save for his constipated look while duct-taped to a chair facing the torture of Vogon poetry. In my memory Vogon poetry produced much more disastrous effects on its listeners. It especially did not produce an effect which could be gotten by eating something disagreeable the previous night for dinner. The actor who does captivate our attention is Sam Rockwell as Zaphod Beeblebrox, albeit because he has two heads and reminds us vaguely of a mixture of George Bush and Richard Branson. Trillian (Zooey Deschanel) is easily forgotten between a towel-wielding Prefect, a posse of ugly Vogons and a two-headed, giddy politician (Beeblebrox).
Billy Nigh is however perfect as Slartibartfast (the architect of planets), and does manage to string a few scenes together which include excellent special effects of the planetary workshops strectching into infinity. Alan Rickman is the voice of Marvin, and quite effective. The problem with Marvin's character is simply that his head is too big and dominates the screen and isn't a very pleasant sight. Even the Heart of Gold is shaped like a bouncing ball and instead of being a wraithlike, transparent and feather-light machine is more like a chubby, white beach-ball, whose enthusiasm only makes everyone grit their teeth. One almost wishes the rockets wouldn't miss it. The animation for the text of the guide book is pretty primitive and could have benefitted from ILM maybe.
A personal peeve I have is the reduction of the role of the babel-fish, the description of which in the original was linked to God disappearing in a 'puff of logic' (if I remember correctly). In the movie its more like Prefect saying, "hallo there Arthur, let me pop this fish thing in your ear. It will translate everything for you." And Arthur replying, "Jolly good Ford, pop it in then." Atleast that's how it came across to me who was hoping for a bit of comic relief through a description of the babel fish rather than watching it being shoved into a human ear.
Bits of the movie do end up looking like something shot for Discovery Channel or Nat Geo. In particular are the 'life-cycle' sequences and overviews of animals and birds flying around etc and were probably taken from stock footage lying around in a basement somewhere.
My final comment on the movie: mostly unimpressive. :)
posted by Vasundhara at 12:35 AM
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