I just rewatched the 2005 Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy with the kids. I think the concept shot right over their tiny little heads.
Anyway it got me thinking of how much hate this movie got from the fans. They really dislike it.
I really like it. Would I like it less if Douglas Adams had not been heavily involved in its production… probably. I think his involvement lent it great gravitas in my mind. If he felt the changes he made to his story for the screenplay were needed, then they were ok by me. Now, I don’t know how much was changed further after his death but I can see how the changes made were made to fit the crazy story into a Holly-weird movie.
He really does re-write a lot of the ‘lore’ of the book(s) such as how the Earth was destroyed, who Humma Kavula even was, and how the heck Earth was all put back together in the end (how the heck did they just recreate people???) and so on, but for a popcorn good time, it worked fine.
The actors were great and Sam Rockwell was very good. I know he said he was going for a George Bush impersonation but it was delightful. They guy’s got comedy range. Check out Gentleman Broncos for more craziness.
It was a fun, and upbeat movie (considering billions died in it), with some great design and amazing puppetry.
On a side note, I am on book 5 in the increasingly inaccurately named Hitchhiker’s trilogy and will read: … and another thing (which I have never fully done) and follow it up with Starship Titanic (not a Hitchhiker book, but in the same universe). The first book is definitely the best in the series as you can sense his meandering in later books (probably brought on by publishers pushing him to write more).