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I had a disgustingly hard time hauling myself out of bed this morning, after having stayed up 'til almost 1AM. Only S.C. and the Furry Hat Liberal attended the late showing of Hitchhiker's Guide with me. I do feel rather like thrashing Mainertoo, CeeJay and ElvenGirl for bagging on me, but I enjoyed the movie just as much, if not more, the second time around, so in some ways it doesn't really matter. :)
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bravecows suggests I write a review... hm. I'm not sure I'm up to reviews, but I'll try.
I really enjoyed the movie over all. It did feel like what Douglas Adams would have written if he'd had the whole concept all at once rather than writing in installments for a weekly radio show. Either he got most of it done before he died or the person who took over understood it very well. It did turn into a different story, but kept many of the same points and lines. Some of the good lines made it, and I cheered. Some good things got left out, but I suppose something has to get left out. There was a little added sap with this whole love interest thing, but it only got annoying at one point.
The fine details... here's where I'll do my nit-picking. Remember I do LIKE the movie quite a lot.
Trillian: Became nicer, if a little weaker. They left out the fact that she was an astrophysicist, which I think is a shame because she loses some of her braininess. I can't say I cared much for Zooey Deschanel's delivery of her lines - lacked vocal inflection and clarity of diction. She did well with her facial expressions. She did some just plain stupid things, like waving a laser knife in Arthur's face as a joke, which didn't impress me.
Arthur: Was much stronger, he got to have ideas and do things rather than just sort of wander around looking helpless. Overall I was pleased with Martin Freeman's performance of the role.
Ford: Unfortunately, became a weaker and less interesting character. I think it had a lot to do with the screen time he was given - he didn't get to do the thing Old School Ford did where he'd talk people into things using verbal distraction and psychic pushing. But also Mos Def played him a bit as though he was drunk all the time, and did odd goofy things, like letting Arthur drive and then interfering with his driving. I wondered, as we were on the way out from the first showing, if they chose Mos Def because he wouldn't overshadow Martin Freeman for the lead role, but later I began to think that they probably did Mos Def a disservice by not letting him have the juicy lines Old School Ford had. It's a shame. Still miss David Dixon, but I think Mos Def could have been given more to work with, and better direction might have helped, you never know. Adding the bit with him trying to shake hands with a car didn't make any sense. Why would Ford think cars were the dominant life-form when there's creatures there who look like himself? Breaks some kind of sociological law, doesn't it? Most people would expect people who look like themselves to be dominant. It was only done so Arthur could save his life so there'd be some 'reason' for him to waste his precious time before the Earth was blown up on saving Arthur, which really wasn't necessary. Previously he just liked Arthur, which is more noble to my mind. (Even ignoring any slashy subtext.)
Zaphod: And his new two heads thing... Didn't work for me, unfortunately. He occasionally came close to a certain charm, but ruined it with his psychoticness before losing his second head, and his complete brainlessness after losing his second head. (It was only half his brain, he shouldn't have acted completely brainless.) And the second head popping out was just disgusting. Also, can anyone tell me why the third arm seemed to be connected to the second head and disappeared when it did? That really didn't make sense to me. And the explanation about splitting his brain because parts of his personality weren't presidential material was just unnecessary. Originally I believe he had two heads because two heads seemed like fun, and that was quite enough explanation.
Marvin: I wasn't keen on the new look before seeing the show, but now I love him. He's really good. And seems to be the only character the American audience remembers and likes. Odd. (I was delighted to see the old Marvin cameo, in the waiting line on Vogsphere!) Oddly, on IMDB they list Warwick Davis as Marvin. He was inside the costume, and the movement was good, but Alan Rickman did his voice, and that was what really made the character.
The Guide (and Narration): Love love love Stephen Fry's voice, but you all expected that. ;) Didn't love the animation as much as I loved the animation for the TV version.
Eddie the Shipboard Computer: Most excellent. :)
All in all I think it's like when people do covers of old songs. Everyone wants to do something different or there's no point in doing it, but sometimes we just like the old version better, sometimes it takes us time to get used to the new version, and occasionally they try too hard to do something different, they grasp for anything different, and end up falling on their faces. We have a little of all that in here, but fortunately very little of the falling completely on the face.
Slashy subtext: Mostly removed by the 'Arthur saved his life' premise and the manufactured romance with Trillian, but they still had some moments.
"Don't flatter yourself ... I have my own spaceman," Arthur says to Trillian.
When Ford explains to Arthur that his planet has been destroyed he gives him a hug.
When they're in the airlock about to be spaced by the Vogons, Ford wipes Arthur's face with a towel and comments on him sweating, and offers him another hug (declined).
While waiting for Trillian to be released by the Vogons, Arthur bounces his knee and Ford puts his hand on Arthur's knee and just holds it down to make him stop.
The only drawback with all these slashy moments was Mos Def's stiff performance of them. He puts his hand on Arthur's shoulder at arm's length. He doesn't give a warm hug. I suspect that he's trying to indicate discomfort with human-style interactions, but he's suddenly quite relaxed when hugging Zaphod. Maybe he's more comfortable with family? Too overwhelmed by his attraction to Arthur to be relaxed? Hey, I'm a slasher, I can make anything work. ;)
And in other stuff...
*chortles at![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
eor's poll.* :)
He's also writing his review of Jack Kerouack's "On The Road," and I just got to read the first draft. Don't miss it when he posts it. :)
bravecows suggests I write a review... hm. I'm not sure I'm up to reviews, but I'll try. I really enjoyed the movie over all. It did feel like what Douglas Adams would have written if he'd had the whole concept all at once rather than writing in installments for a weekly radio show. Either he got most of it done before he died or the person who took over understood it very well. It did turn into a different story, but kept many of the same points and lines. Some of the good lines made it, and I cheered. Some good things got left out, but I suppose something has to get left out. There was a little added sap with this whole love interest thing, but it only got annoying at one point.
The fine details... here's where I'll do my nit-picking. Remember I do LIKE the movie quite a lot.
Trillian: Became nicer, if a little weaker. They left out the fact that she was an astrophysicist, which I think is a shame because she loses some of her braininess. I can't say I cared much for Zooey Deschanel's delivery of her lines - lacked vocal inflection and clarity of diction. She did well with her facial expressions. She did some just plain stupid things, like waving a laser knife in Arthur's face as a joke, which didn't impress me.
Arthur: Was much stronger, he got to have ideas and do things rather than just sort of wander around looking helpless. Overall I was pleased with Martin Freeman's performance of the role.
Ford: Unfortunately, became a weaker and less interesting character. I think it had a lot to do with the screen time he was given - he didn't get to do the thing Old School Ford did where he'd talk people into things using verbal distraction and psychic pushing. But also Mos Def played him a bit as though he was drunk all the time, and did odd goofy things, like letting Arthur drive and then interfering with his driving. I wondered, as we were on the way out from the first showing, if they chose Mos Def because he wouldn't overshadow Martin Freeman for the lead role, but later I began to think that they probably did Mos Def a disservice by not letting him have the juicy lines Old School Ford had. It's a shame. Still miss David Dixon, but I think Mos Def could have been given more to work with, and better direction might have helped, you never know. Adding the bit with him trying to shake hands with a car didn't make any sense. Why would Ford think cars were the dominant life-form when there's creatures there who look like himself? Breaks some kind of sociological law, doesn't it? Most people would expect people who look like themselves to be dominant. It was only done so Arthur could save his life so there'd be some 'reason' for him to waste his precious time before the Earth was blown up on saving Arthur, which really wasn't necessary. Previously he just liked Arthur, which is more noble to my mind. (Even ignoring any slashy subtext.)
Zaphod: And his new two heads thing... Didn't work for me, unfortunately. He occasionally came close to a certain charm, but ruined it with his psychoticness before losing his second head, and his complete brainlessness after losing his second head. (It was only half his brain, he shouldn't have acted completely brainless.) And the second head popping out was just disgusting. Also, can anyone tell me why the third arm seemed to be connected to the second head and disappeared when it did? That really didn't make sense to me. And the explanation about splitting his brain because parts of his personality weren't presidential material was just unnecessary. Originally I believe he had two heads because two heads seemed like fun, and that was quite enough explanation.
Marvin: I wasn't keen on the new look before seeing the show, but now I love him. He's really good. And seems to be the only character the American audience remembers and likes. Odd. (I was delighted to see the old Marvin cameo, in the waiting line on Vogsphere!) Oddly, on IMDB they list Warwick Davis as Marvin. He was inside the costume, and the movement was good, but Alan Rickman did his voice, and that was what really made the character.
The Guide (and Narration): Love love love Stephen Fry's voice, but you all expected that. ;) Didn't love the animation as much as I loved the animation for the TV version.
Eddie the Shipboard Computer: Most excellent. :)
All in all I think it's like when people do covers of old songs. Everyone wants to do something different or there's no point in doing it, but sometimes we just like the old version better, sometimes it takes us time to get used to the new version, and occasionally they try too hard to do something different, they grasp for anything different, and end up falling on their faces. We have a little of all that in here, but fortunately very little of the falling completely on the face.
Slashy subtext: Mostly removed by the 'Arthur saved his life' premise and the manufactured romance with Trillian, but they still had some moments.
"Don't flatter yourself ... I have my own spaceman," Arthur says to Trillian.
When Ford explains to Arthur that his planet has been destroyed he gives him a hug.
When they're in the airlock about to be spaced by the Vogons, Ford wipes Arthur's face with a towel and comments on him sweating, and offers him another hug (declined).
While waiting for Trillian to be released by the Vogons, Arthur bounces his knee and Ford puts his hand on Arthur's knee and just holds it down to make him stop.
The only drawback with all these slashy moments was Mos Def's stiff performance of them. He puts his hand on Arthur's shoulder at arm's length. He doesn't give a warm hug. I suspect that he's trying to indicate discomfort with human-style interactions, but he's suddenly quite relaxed when hugging Zaphod. Maybe he's more comfortable with family? Too overwhelmed by his attraction to Arthur to be relaxed? Hey, I'm a slasher, I can make anything work. ;)
And in other stuff...
*chortles at
eor's poll.* :)He's also writing his review of Jack Kerouack's "On The Road," and I just got to read the first draft. Don't miss it when he posts it. :)
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I'm thinking Ford's a bit awkward with Arthur because he likes him SO MUCH, and when you like somebody as much as Ford likes Arthur, you get all nervous and scared. Zaphod doesn't matter because he's known Zaphod forever, and Zaphod's family. But Arthur is important.
And yeah, I kinda missed the astrophysicist thing too. But I think it got across that Trillian was supposed to be tremendously brainy -- but maybe I was just thinking that 'cos I know her to be tremendously brainy. oh dear. I suppose to the uninitiated she would just appear as your typical free spirit type. How sad!