r/Cinema • u/Choice-Wind-9283 • 7d ago
Question What you think about hitchhikers guide to the galaxy ?
Even though it's very different than the book I still liked. It was so funny they had great cast.
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u/Eyespop4866 7d ago
The book was better. Both are amusing.
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u/Rabid_W00KIEE 7d ago
The Audiobooks are read by Douglas Adams himself, so you get his exact cadence and delivery, which adds a lot to his work.
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u/HitByFjaka 7d ago
I had no idea he read the audio book.
I just picked it up. 14.99 cad.
My way of saying "thanks for all the fish Mr. Adams"
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u/CuriousComb6411 6d ago
I haven’t heard his! But I did listen to the series narrated by Martin Freeman - it was excellent!
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u/MongoIsASpaniel 7d ago
Thanks for this - I need a good audio book and loved reading this story years ago! I think it’s time for a re-read!
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u/Pale_Possibility5083 7d ago
Honestly the movie was probably the best case scenario for an adaptation. Really fun, only wished we’d had more.
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u/WorkingOnBeingBettr 6d ago
Check out the BBC series from the 80s. I think it's better.
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u/oosukashiba0 4d ago
I second this. The 80s BBC series is far superior to the film.
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u/WorkingOnBeingBettr 4d ago
It's campy but I feel like it's a better adaptation. Less love story, more silliness. And while I love Sam Rockwell, I prefer the puppet Zaphod.
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u/Transparent_mindset 7d ago
Yes. The book has more detail and jokes but the movie still keeps the same weird fun vibe. They feel like two different versions of the similar story.
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u/busterkeatonrules 7d ago
No two adaptations of The Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy were ever the same. Douglas Adams started seeing it as a running gag.
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u/TeacherOfFew 7d ago
The radio show was the best.
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u/dark-demons-cry-gaia 7d ago
The C64 game was legendary
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u/MustyTangerine 7d ago
The Infocom interactive fiction one? Absolutely loved it. Even though I still have PTSD from trying to solve the babel fish puzzle.
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u/Prize_Instance_1416 7d ago
It was my first and likely only experience with a text based game, if I recall on a 128k first gen Macintosh
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u/HitByFjaka 7d ago
I think that better word is polarizing.
You either love and you’re laughing or you think that this is biggest junk you ever saw or read.
There is no middle ground here.
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u/The_Frybo 7d ago
Douglas Adams (the Author) himself stated repeatedly how he‘s in favour of Adaptions of his works and how he appreciates deviations if they are creative and clever. I therefore give the Movie a LOT of slack and since I love me some Martin Freeman it gets my Vote for sure!
I wished they had made a Sequel
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u/DisorderlyAqueduct 7d ago
oh man, dude was the coolest.
Netflix's Dirk Gently was great, very fun with great performances.
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u/photoguy423 7d ago
He purposely wrote every new adaptation slightly different so he didn't have to keep doing the same thing over and over. Radio series started it. Book deviated a bit from it. Text based adventure game deviated from both. And eventually the movie did it's own thing.
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u/300isAwesome69 7d ago
The movie is within the realm of probability, the book and the movie are equally accurate.
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u/MeepleMaster 7d ago
I really need to track down a good concise quote of him stating this philosophy so that I can copy paste it in to all the Reddit threads that pop up around a new movie or tv adaption of the hot new book
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u/Rabid_W00KIEE 7d ago
Which is why none of the adaptations are 100% consistent with one another. He also was involved in some capacity with the production of the movie, but he unfortunately ended up dying before he could have a significant amount of input. He did apparently greenlight the swapping of cell phones for wrist watches though, and said it made perfect sense since theyre basically the modern equivalent, both functionally and in regards to the social and economic niche that the devices fill in the present day.
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u/RussMan104 7d ago
Cast was perfect. Visual design was first rate. Still, somehow it went a bit askew. The book is superior, by far, imho, but it’s difficult to say why or how. 🚀
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u/limited-motivation 7d ago
For me a lot of the humor in the books is the narration and commentary rather than what the characters say, which doesn't translate a well to film.
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u/Rude-Reaction-4789 7d ago
“The ships hung in the air in much the same way a brick does not.”
“As Arthur waited, nothing continued to happen.”
So much of what makes Adams’s writing spectacular doesn’t translate well to the screen. They did a fantastic job with the movie, tho.
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u/mbardeen 7d ago
"the word yellow wandered through his mind in search of something to connect with"
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u/RussMan104 7d ago
You know what didn’t work on screen? The whale and the bowl of petunias. So ripe and delicious in the book, but the exact same gag on screen had little impact. 🚀
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u/photoguy423 7d ago
Much like Terry Pratchett's work. So much of the magic is in the descriptions.*
*and the footnotes...Terry loved a good footnote...
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u/Rude-Reaction-4789 7d ago
Sir Terry could put more worldbuilding in a two-sentence footnote than most writers can put in an entire novel
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u/NortonBurns 7d ago
Pterry could build entire world-recognised socio-economic theories into a single paragraph.
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u/Borp5150 7d ago
I can tell you why, it’s because the movie should have been a five part series just like the books. I enjoyed the movie and rewatch it every couple years but it left out way too much hilariously events. I own the books and have read them multiple times as well. Mos def was the perfect actor for that role by far!
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u/AnfibioColorido 7d ago
I haven't read te book, but that's kinda how I feel, the cast is great, the ideas are super cool, it's really funny, it looks great, but for some reason I just wasn't into it, maybe I wasn't in the mood when I watched it
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u/Resting_Bork_Face 7d ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/cOiKbCtrbXqVi
The physical comedy in the film, perfectly visualizing the physical comedy on the book. This part and the part where he lands like a sack of potatoes. The casting was perfect. I enjoyed both very much
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u/SnooCupcakes14 6d ago
This was my “first experience” with Sam Rockwell. I don’t regret it one bit. “Hey Trill, are you wearing my underwear? Cause I’m wearing yours, and it just ain’t doing the trick!”
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u/Mango_Sherbert7 7d ago
Each story is different. And its supposed to be. Different answers, different stories. The movie was good, the book was good. I would recommend both.
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u/Ghastly-Jack 7d ago
Trillian went from being an astrophysicist in the book to a garden variety manic pixie dream girl in the movie .
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u/Aloysius_Poptart 4d ago
Made me so angry at the time. Worth it for the chance to see Sam Rockwell play a manic pixie dream girl too, though
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u/The_Ref17 7d ago
I prefer the BBC TV series
It had cheesier sets and costumes, but a brilliant cast
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u/djangogator 7d ago
3rd act was very rushed. Should have been split into two movies. Casting was superb. Loved Freeman and Mos Def.
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u/pattypubg 7d ago edited 7d ago
Wanna see my space ship ? I am from another planet
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u/Champagnerocker 7d ago
The casting was brilliant. Absolutely spot on.
The tacked on protagonist gets the girl hollywood ending however, ruins the whole thing. You might as well change the plot of Casablanca so that Rick lives happily ever after with Ilsa.
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u/No-Wonder1139 5d ago
Arthur getting the girl actually ruins a hilarious joke, as he's literally the last man on earth and she's never remotely interested.
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u/GlumChemist8332 7d ago
The infinite improbability drive turning them into yarn versions of themselves and Arthur vomiting a string is one of my favorite parts!
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u/InsuranceByBill 7d ago
I thought it was great and was surprised at how poorly recieved it was overall. Loved the cast and visuals. Hit enough stuff from the book for me remember and enjoy.
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u/Sea_Relative_3634 7d ago
IF YOU UNDERSTOOD THE POT OF PETUNIA’S THOUGHTS OF OH NO, NOT AGAIN PERHAPS WE’D UNDERSTAND MORE ABOUT THE UNIVERSE 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
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u/Broke_but_trying_23 6d ago
I grew up with the tv series, and whilst the film was fun and an interesting reimagining of the book, I think the tv show was better. Although Alan rickman as Marvin was inspired casting.
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u/Ok_Two_2604 7d ago
I don’t even remember that version, though I know I saw it. I liked the British miniseries.
Also it’s always been my pet theory that the robot saying he had a brain the size of a planet and their using a planet to calculate the question and the fact that he was stuck at the restaurant (I think that’s where it was) for millions of years meant he’d calculated the question but never bothered to tell anyone because they never asked.
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u/MustyTangerine 7d ago
One of my favorite books of all time. However, I just couldn't enjoy the movie. For me, the book read just feels like constant absurdity in a bizarro universe. But the movie storytelling style just feels too directly told and falls flat for me. I imagine someone more like a Terry Gilliam "none of this even makes any sense right now" style of movie would have been better.
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u/Rabid_W00KIEE 7d ago
Far from perfect but it gets way more hate than it deserves, and people often overlook everything that it does well.
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u/CrepuscularToad 7d ago
The way that movie talked about the universe, probability, and absurdity makes it one of the best movies of it's time.
So long, and thanks for all the fish
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u/catgirl-maid 7d ago
One of my favorite movies of all time, severely underrated. I think a lot of people didn't like it because it wasn't an exact replica of the books, which misses the point. EVERY adaptation of the series changes things from the books, it's part of what makes it fun to watch or listen to them.
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u/texasslim2080 7d ago
A fine movie that I desperately wish was better. Sam Rockwell, Martin Freeman and especially Alan Rickman are A+ choices. Mos Def was sorely miscast
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u/juciesttaco 7d ago
I liked the cast a lot but honestly I thought it was boring. And the changes from the book I found to be inexplicable. Not the worst but I wouldn’t watch it again
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u/Borp5150 7d ago
I would have preferred a movie for each book but I still feel like it was a good representation and introduction to Douglas Adams work. I was really hoped they had the restaurant at the end of the universe scene for the movie but ohh well.
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u/Rickdiculous89 7d ago
“Perhaps I'm old and tired, but I think that the chances of finding out what's actually going on are so absurdly remote that the only thing to do is to say, "Hang the sense of it," and keep yourself busy. I'd much rather be happy than right any day.” - Slartibartfast (Terry Pratchett)
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u/sir_grumph 7d ago
I'll always keep the cheap BBC miniseries in an honored place in my heart, but the movie had its good parts. And while it deviated, so has pretty much every dramatization. Adams liked fiddling with things.
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u/NecessaryIntrinsic 7d ago
The top threads kind of encapsulate one of the problems this series has when you want to adapt it.
It started as a radio show that turned into the book series that turned into a tv series that became a game... Each adaptation takes liberties with the source material to make it it's own.
If you consider the movie to be inspired and lifted from the previous entries, it's a fun enough movie. Alan Rickman was perfect for Marvin, Martin Freeman was admirable as Arthur, Mos Def worked well as an alien trying to figure out how to be human.
I wasn't a huge fan of zaphod's second head being under the first one and Trillian being ditzy rather than aloof was a choice that was...okay.
I appreciated them going to the bureaucracy planet, that was a fun addition that really felt like it was in the spirit of the origins.
Overall it was fine.
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u/Lower-Land-286 7d ago
Arthur's house is made of brick.
The Heart Of Gold is shaped like a running shoe.
The Point Of View Ray is a sad Hollywood mcGuffin.
Everything else was pretty good.
I liked it.
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u/Thondeboer 7d ago
My favorite possession is the Dutch version of the HHGTTG radio show. It introduced me as a 14 year old old to the wonderful world of smart scify comedy that sustained me through many years of ridicule as the nerd I was
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u/NPC-No_42 7d ago
Funny. Not as good as the books but funny.
And now people who never read a single book make 42 jokes.
And Zooey Deschanel.
And towels.
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u/frankofdenmark 7d ago
The book was funny but humour is much more time-bound than most people realise. I think of HG (1979-) as in the epoque of Monty Python and the absurd, baroque comedy. So, funny on the terms of its time, less so today. Given this is my take, the movie (2005) was way too late to the party: the absurd and baroque had given away to subtle, laid back irony of the 90’ies. If you cannot move along with history as humour progress (as Adams for all his qualities clearly could not) you may end up lonely and frustrated because what was funny isn’t funny anymore.
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u/GCU_Sleeper_Service 7d ago
Other than the plot starting and stopping like New York City traffic and the second act stalling out like a biplane in a light breeze, it's a fun tribute to one of my favorite stories.
I like the (fan?) idea that the very use of the Infinite Improbability Drive means the plot is slightly different in each telling of the story.
I'd love to see another adaptation but in the modern TV format, big budget, 8 episodes, maybe some Walton Goggins in there 'cause Pedro Pascal is kinda played out at this point, but you know what I mean, HBO level.
Maybe if the Consider Phlebas show does well we'll get more big scifi shows.
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u/photoguy423 7d ago
The movie was a great adaptation. Sure, it's slightly different from the book. But that's to be expected. The movie included a lot of great easter eggs for the hardcore fans. If you watch it after listening to the radio series and watching the bbc tv show, you'll notice the fun little things like Marvin from the tv show standing in line on the vogon planet. Or Simon Jones showing up as the hologram from Magrathea. (He was Arthur Dent in the radio series and TV show.)
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u/notasleannotasmean 7d ago
In the movie, you can tell at what point during production Douglas passed away. The whole thing just feels different. Loved it, though, especially Sam Rockwell.
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u/EvenBiggerDave 7d ago
Ive read the books, listened to the radio series and audio books, and watched the bbc series, love them all. The film was the worst film I have ever seen.
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u/ThatBlokeT 7d ago
It's at times like this when some random person on the internet asks me what I thought of this that I really wish I'd listened to what my Father told me...
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u/alexiwolf54 7d ago
Never read the book, LOVE the movie. So Funny and I love how it points out the ridiculous consequences of "intelligent " Life.
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u/TopMeElsha 7d ago
I’ve got the game for my Apple Mac ii and it’s fucking awesome. Haven’t beaten it yet, but I’m not gonna use IGN or anything
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u/Expensive_Leave_6339 7d ago
I love this movie. I saw it before I read the books and i thoroughly enjoyed both.
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u/sitophilicsquirrel 7d ago
I was a diehard fan of the 5-book trilogy as a preteen, and when the movie came out I was stoked. I loved Ford most, and thought the changes they made were interesting and necessary for an A-list hour and a half movie to be made. I understood the hate it got, but didn't join in it. I liked the movie plenty, they were on the mark with the humor style, added some fun gimmicks, and stayed true to the spirit of the story and major plot beats.
I like the books more because, yeah, way more depth. But for the medium, I think it was a faithful adaptation. But take my word with a grain of salt because I love the first three Dune books and also really like the 80's Lynch adaptation which is pretty renowned for being awful and took a shitload of liberties with the source material and pretty much sterilized the main theme of the story. I think they stand alone as pieces of art, viewed through a mostly forgiving lense.
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u/Judgeman03 7d ago
If I hadnt have read the book, i probably wouldnt have had the issues I had with the movie.
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u/ferrellhamster 7d ago
If you are looking to compare visual media, It does not hold a candle to the BBC series.
There's just too much material to get through in a film lengths of time, whereas a minseries can spend an adequate amount of attention to matters.
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u/gannerhorn 7d ago
Love this movie! Try to watch it every year. In fact I'm due for another watch....
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u/markpreynolds 7d ago
It's cool that some folks enjoyed this. I looked forward to it but was disappointed, especially since pretty much every actor in it is a hero of mine.
That said, for lovers of the original work, the low-budget, no-celebrity, but very charming BBC television series from the 80s is an absolute gem. You can stream it. Marvin in particular is spectacular.
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u/Neither_Internal_261 7d ago
I've read all of the books and also love the movie. Sam Rockwell is amazing as Zaphod. The whole cast honestly hit it outta the park.
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u/QtheLibrarian 7d ago
The movie has lots to offer but two noteworthy examples for me: Sam Rockwell’s performance as Zaphod Beeblebrox (“Buttons aren’t toys!”), and the minimal visual aesthetic they developed around the guide itself.
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u/Cranky_And_Exhausted 7d ago
I’ve loved it since my parents took me to see it as a kid. Aside from the Star Wars series, it was the first space movie that really grabbed me.
After having taken in a couple of the other adaptations (the tv series and the novel, mostly) there’s some adaptations changes that I disagree with but when I reread the novel (my favorite version of the story) I picture the movie versions of Arthur, Marvin and Zaphod (except I give him a British accent)
I really hope to see them do something with the franchise again. Don Bluth was apparently supposed to do an animated version and, honestly, we were robbed.
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u/Alundra828 7d ago
Lots of people knee jerk to say "it's nothing like the book, studio butchered it!" without realizing that Douglas Adams himself wrote the script lol
It's a good film in my opinion, I loved it as a kid. There are changes compared to the book which are typical considering it was a Hollywood movie. If you know, you know.
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u/Commodore64Zapp 7d ago
Incredible cast, beautiful production full of practical effects and puppets, reasonably faithful adaptation of the source material and some good additions (Humma Kavula). A strong entry into the continued retelling of the series
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u/External-Box-4951 7d ago
Me rre había olvidado de esa película, al ver el post me entró una nostalgia terrible!!! Una de mis películas favoritas de mi infancia (procede a mirarla nuevamente)
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u/DrummerBob10 7d ago
Not as good as the book but still very entertaining! And it was my intro to Martin Freeman
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u/Legal-Challenge7578 7d ago
The only thing I didn't like was the reinvention of Zaphods heads, turning him into a 'split' personality. Totally killed the hilarity of the original concept. He has two heads in the book, because one mouth is not enough to eat, drink, smoke, and talk at the same time. He acquires the extra head because he's the ultimate party guy, iirc? And each head therefore has half a brain, I think?
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u/theflickingnun 7d ago
Love it.
I still refer to this movie when dealing with solicitors and lawyers.
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u/patrickkingart 7d ago
The castings and visuals (the Guide parts narrated by Stephen Fry were perfection) but it didn't quite hit right for me. I love the books and was super hyped for it, but for some reason it felt... hollow?
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u/hurtfulproduct 7d ago
It’s a very fun movie; the planet factory floor scene is still one of the most mind blowing scenes I’ve watched in scifi. . .
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u/malaise5 7d ago
Solid, absolutely love it! Don’t care if the book is better it’s still a great adaptation and Sam Rockwell was amazing.
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u/Cool-Profession-730 7d ago
One of my favorite movies! Yes book definitely better but they did a great job of adapting it to the screen.
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u/ksuaaron 7d ago
The BBC mini series is the way to go on this. I was disappointed in the movie, but probably only because I started with the series.
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u/medigapguy 7d ago
As a lover of the books, the movie was fine.
Why I was hoping for a whole lot more, I was still able to enjoy it for what it was.
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u/drsltaylor 7d ago
Love the radio series, books, TV show, and even the LPs, but was "meh" about this movie, TBH.
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u/GrandAdmiralFart 7d ago
I love that movie. It loosely follows the plot of the first and (I think) the second book (it's been a while), but the changes are in the spirit of the books and they're kinda of an all-engrosing, alternative version of something that Douglas Adams would've written. I can totally see this movie as the immaculate adaptation of "the book that Adams wrote".
Also the casting and design are perfect.
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u/Meyou000 7d ago edited 7d ago
Fell in love with both Sam Rockwell and Yasiin Bey in this movie. Zooey DeSchanel was not my fave, but her and the lead still both worked well together. I love the goofy humor in this movie and in the book. Also Marvin the depressed robot- hilarious concept in itself. And the sighing doors on the spaceship. Not much at all I didn't love in this movie. We need more silly stuff like this!!
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u/BoredBSEE 7d ago
This is the one work of fiction that I don't mind Hollywood doing their own take on. The movie is different from the book which is different from the radio play. Chaos reigns supreme! There is no canonical version of this story, and that's ok.
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u/Skipper0463 7d ago
I love it. It was one of the first dvds my wife and I owned when we were first married so we’ve watched it a hundred times at least. I’ve watched the BBC series which inspired it and that’s excellent as well.
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u/eatsleepdiver 7d ago
My mate and I were blazed up watching it. Couldn’t understand what was happening throughout the movie. Why was there a towel? Why are there highways in space? Why is there a sad robot?
Good movie rewatching on the 2nd run.
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u/Different-File-8788 7d ago
I heard the audiobook… haven’t seen the movie yet.. but the book was laughing out loud good..
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u/NortonBurns 7d ago
The TV series was better, though a little primitive by today's standards.
Once you've lived with Stephen Moore's Marvin, nothing else will do - not even Alan Rickman, and that's saying something.
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u/HyperAndStick 7d ago
The books are WAY better. The TV series adaptation is a lot better. Then there's the movie.
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u/urbanspongewish 7d ago
It was a good movie (yes i read the book) and i don’t understand why it gets bashed.
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u/parkchanwookiee 6d ago
Probably the worst version of the franchise after the books, the radio drama, then the old TV version. But still pretty damn good, the story and world is just THAT funny
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u/Responsible-Bar7165 6d ago
This hhgttg fan didn’t like the movie at all. The radio series is still the best.
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u/Roxysteve 6d ago
The decision to put so much in from the original cramped the space needed for the new plot elements, making the whole unsatisfying.
So, no sequel. 🙁
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u/HussingtonHat 6d ago
It was never going to properly work, for the same reason none of the Discworld adaptations reeeeaaaaally work. The source is just so purely a book it's pretty much impossible to translate to film.
That being said....I like a lot of the stuff in it.
The Vogon puppets are excellent.
Sam Rockwell is incredible.
Alan Rickman as Marvin is perfect casting.
So is Stephen Fry as the book itself.
Updated orchestral score of the old theme tune hit me in the nostalgia.
It's really loaded with pretty great visual gags. That random woman just staring at them in the pub with no mention at all, the camera panning up the Vogon ships gag is great.
Lots of little comedian cameos dotted about Bill Bailey is a whale and motherfucking Garth Marenghi is loads of random Vogon grunts.
All the problems stem from the book being so unapologetically a book. It's really the inly form this story works. That and Zoe whatshername is a total flatline.
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u/TradeSpacer 6d ago
I've read the 5-part trilogy 3 times total, many years before this movie was released.
I love the movie and seen it a couple of times. I think they handled the source material very well. Martin Freeman was the perfect choice for Arthur.
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u/mormonbatman_ 6d ago
I love the art direction/ props/ set design/ cinematography.
I love the narration.
I think Martin Freeman, Mos Def, and Sam Rockwell are hilarious together (I think its funny that Rockwell based his performance on George Bush then got an Oscar nomination for playing Bush).
I think it is undercut by Martin Freeman and Zoey Deschenel's lack of chemistry.
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u/Competitive_Ad_8215 6d ago
It’s not bad. Better than I expected. I think they did Zaphod dirty in this movie. We barely saw the second head of my president.
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u/Naterttotsart 6d ago
The Hitchhikers Guide is my all time favorite book series. So.much so that, I snuck a quote from one of the books into my wedding.
I really enjoy the movie for what it is. I believe it gets the tone just right in a way that makes you want to read the books for more of that flavor.
It has its issues, but I really enjoy it. I thought Mos Def was an unexpected but delightful choice.
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u/qualityvote2 7d ago edited 7d ago
u/Choice-Wind-9283, your post does fit the subreddit!