UKC

anyone seen this?

Saw it on sunday.. bizzare, but very good.
Zaphod was inspired.

any views?

In reply to Alan:

I saw it last night.

The opening sequence was very good (both the dolphin song and the Earths demise), and I particuarly liked the Vogons. Call me old fashioned but I rather liked the prosthetic head favoured by the BBC TV Zaphod, otherwise a good choice. Trillian wasn't too bad either. Mos Def as Ford was pretty dull, he never quite managed to pull of the ethereal weirdness coupled with barking insanity of the Ford from the radio or books, and managed a sort of quiet blandness instead. Also Ford is supposed to be a consumate coward, not chasing after Vogons with a moist towel.

After all that there was still hope for the film to be excellent, but for Arthur.

No matter what he said or did it was just Tim from The Office, yeah okay he's an everyman sort of character, but just asking for tea every few minutes does not make him Arthur Dent. He singuarly failed to portray the middle-class, middle-England Telegraph-reading nervous-wreck that is Arthur Dent. And the love affair with Trillian WTF?

Yeah okay I'm comparing it too closely to the radio script and the books (which in themselves are different), but I felt that too many changes were made.

Still:
The Whale's inner voice? Inspired.
Slartibartfast? Genius
Magrathea? Brilliantly realised
Marvin? Alan Rickman was superbly miserable
The Cameos? Had me leaping from my seat and pointing at the screen, much to my partners lasting shame.

So yeah, it was okay, not bad. It might have been even better if I wasn't such a pathetic Hitchhikers fan-boy in the first place.

In reply to catbaiter:


I would never have guessed had you not said.

In reply to Alan:

went on fri night for a 10:00 showing, was very tired after many hours gardening that day and fell asleep after 45 mins (oops). The cinema was hot and stuffy. then proceeded to get beaten up by my mate who hated me after. Marvin was v. funny. must listen to the radio serise (sp?). Now for a musical I believe

Rob

p.s that really doesn't make sense does it??

In reply to Alan:

Just as well I told you then?!

In reply to Alan:

Extremely boring film!
The first film I have ever walked out half way through.
I read the books back when I was 15 and didn't remember much, apart from that I had found them funny.
But then I always find supposedly classic sagas dull. Felt similar about Star Wars and Lord of the Rings.

Having never really got into the office I though Arthur Dent was quite good, "Jack Davenport" was the other contender for the part - he may have been better *shrug*

loved some of the smaller touches - the old Marvin in the queue at the Post Office

Bill Bailey as the whale voice was great.

Overall I thought it was very good, I've never listened to the radio series, and haven't read the book in a few years, but overall I thought it was well done.
As for the love interest, well, every film has to have one doesn't it...

In reply to roblo:

I thought there had already been a musical? Or was it a play?
I can't remember which.

In reply to Alan:

See the TV series repeated from tonight.

In reply to sutty:



And the new radio series at 6:30pm tonight on Radio 4...

About 15mins from now...

In reply to Dominion:

Listening now, cheers matey. (Oh christ did that sound like DJ Viper?!)

In reply to catbaiter:

y'see! That's what Ford and Arthur are supposed to be like! Brilliant

In reply to catbaiter:

Hmm, the new radio series is quite pleasant, isn't it? Have they rewritten some of the jokes to bring them up to date, or did a latter part of the trilogy really poke fun at novelty ringtones and the vibrate function?

In reply to psd:

It was digital watches first time round, it's just been updated...

In reply to Alan:
It falls between two stools,a s the saying goes. I'm familiar with the TV series and books (though it's a long time since I've read them; and seen it on telly more recently) and heard most of it on radio sporadically.

So...like the new series of Dr Who, they are keeping some familiar elements to keep the old skool happy enough (some scenes are verbatim - uncannily so at times! and some charmingly wonky BBC-style "special effects") but also changed plenty too in order to make it a proper 1h45minute film with characters and a story arc. And some very good-looking effects too when they feel the need e.g. Magrathean factory floor
As a self-contained film I liked it well enough, it pretty much did the job though perhaps some character motivations are questionable (perhaps some stuff was cut to trim the running time?).
Trillian has a bigger role (no complaints there, Zooey Deschanel is captivating!) but to be honest there is little to actually like about Arthur, he just comes off as a whingeing limey (well that's exactly what he is in the originals I guess)
Starts to let itself down a bit at the end too...but still certainly worth a watch (and a sequel-friendly kiss-off that it gets away with)

In the context of knowing or not knowing the canon, I think it fails where new Doctor Who succeeds. I did enjoy hearing the original theme music for the second Guide entry, but this is a bit of music designed for my enjoyment - a newcomer wouldn't benefit and may well wonder why it's so portentously built up. There is a brief glimpse of the original Marvin (you may have seen the publicity, new Marvin looks very different)...except it SHOULD be only a brief glimpse, but unfortunately the camera keeps returning to him - again, this doesn't benefit the newcomer at all (and annoyed me too as it makes no sense)

I'd say the whole thing is pretty much in the spirit of the original and enjoyable enough, I certainly don't really know what I might have changed in there anyway. Oh the Guide entries are still done in very basic graphics, a nice touch.