I saw this today, along with my 13 yr old daughter. She hasn't read the books or heard the original radio series (I have) so we have different takes on it. She thought it was hilarious, I thought it was funny in parts but has obviously been modified so that it appeals more to the American market. The Vogon costumes are excellent and Marvin is awful. I saw a production of HHGTTG at the Rainbow theatre and Marvin was spot on. A camp guy in a silver suit with ridiculous epaulets who limped and sulked like a teenager. A stupid robotty thing whose only expressions were slightly shrugged shoulders and a drooping head didn't work for me. And neither did Alan Rickman. Normally I love his stuff but in this film he sounded like he wasn't interested in the role (rather than being a disinterested cyborg) and was doing it as a very bad voice-over.
Slartibartfast was good.
Before I put the spoilers in, I would just say that it's okay as a film but not much more. I did laugh out loud occasionally but that's about it.
<< SPOILER ALERT!!!>> First gripe: WTF is the point of the visit to the planet with the church on? The book didn't need it, and apart from having Mr. Malkovitch added to the cast list to add to attendance, I could see no point. They're obviously hoping to do a sequel but even so...
Who the hell was the women hanging around with the Vogons who ended up snogging Zaphod? Why did there have to be a romance between Arthur and Trillian/Trish? It really didn't matter (after all - he only talked to her for about ten minutes at a party before Zaphod nicked her) and the whole romance theme throughout the film was boring, hackneyed and irrelevant. Oh - and unconvincing.
Then we come to Zaphod... Was this a really low budget movie? Or did they decide to spend more money on Vogon costumes than they did on Zaphod? I thought the realisation of him was the stupidest I've seen. It just didn't work. The third arm appeared twice, the second time in the poorest quality CGI (it would have been better to get someone to stick their up his shirt) and having the head kept as a hostage was such a pathetic attempt at budget minimisation.
Slartibartfast was good.
Before I put the spoilers in, I would just say that it's okay as a film but not much more. I did laugh out loud occasionally but that's about it.
<< SPOILER ALERT!!!>> First gripe: WTF is the point of the visit to the planet with the church on? The book didn't need it, and apart from having Mr. Malkovitch added to the cast list to add to attendance, I could see no point. They're obviously hoping to do a sequel but even so...
Who the hell was the women hanging around with the Vogons who ended up snogging Zaphod? Why did there have to be a romance between Arthur and Trillian/Trish? It really didn't matter (after all - he only talked to her for about ten minutes at a party before Zaphod nicked her) and the whole romance theme throughout the film was boring, hackneyed and irrelevant. Oh - and unconvincing.
Then we come to Zaphod... Was this a really low budget movie? Or did they decide to spend more money on Vogon costumes than they did on Zaphod? I thought the realisation of him was the stupidest I've seen. It just didn't work. The third arm appeared twice, the second time in the poorest quality CGI (it would have been better to get someone to stick their up his shirt) and having the head kept as a hostage was such a pathetic attempt at budget minimisation.