thribble

Having just been to see the Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy, I would just like to say that I almost wish I hadn't. If I hadn't been with my hubby I would have walked out halfway through.

Good Things:

1. Alan Rickman as Marvin - excellently on the ball depressed at all times.
2. Martin Freeman as Arthur - totally bemused and confused, particuarly on the joyride through Magrathea.
3. Bill Nighy as Slartibartfast - exactly as I imagined the attitude.
4. The dolphins (got to say nice things about them!)
5. The Vogons - bodaciously ugly.
6. The point of view gun - fabulous idea, can I have one?

Bad Things:

1. Zaphod - annoying not funny
2. Zaphod's second head - should be beside the first, not below it.
3. Plot - I don't mind deviations from books to cut them down to film length (see HP and the Philosopher's Stone for an example of why this should be done!). I do object to removing great chunks of the story and throwing in an entirely different one instead. Particularly when there's a perfectly good one in the first place.
4. Love story between Arthur and Trillian - only believable because of Zaphod being such an annoying git, and unneccessary other than for the invented plot.
5. The Heart of Gold - not at all as described in the book. Certainly not a ship that Zaphod would fall in love with enough to steal just for kicks.

However, basically, I would have accepted all the changes if it hadn't been for the fact that I had to struggle to stay awake. It started very well indeed, and I wondered where all the bad reviews had come from... until they landed and went to meet John Malkovitch. It went downhill rapidly from there and never really picked up. Sorry. I had high hopes for this, but it strikes me as an opportunity wasted.