Mostly Harmless

I saw "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" this weekend. I'm fairly new to the Douglas Adams universe (I've read the first three books of the trilogy last year and re-read Hitchhiker's last month). Reading Adams' work has got me into reading more sci-fi and also led to my discovery of Terry Pratchett's Discworld series (probably some of the funniest stories ever written!). I went into the movie without any expectations - I just wanted to see how this book translated to the big screen. After seeing the movie, I realized that it is a very tough book to adapt into movie form. Many of the jokes that I found funny on the page were either not funny in the movie or were left out entirely. It would be similar to adapting a Terry Pratchett book for the screen. For some reason, Pratchett's handling of the English language is incredibly funny on paper, but would probably be lost on mainstream audiences. Which brings me to my next point about the movie - who was the movie made for? If it was made strictly for the fans, with all its bits intact, it wouldn't have recieved that wide of a release (and wouldn't have had the funding - like a low budge BBC series). For some entertainment, after you see the movie, read uber fan MJ Simpson's now legendary review. (I would hate to read this guy's review of "The Ten Commandments" - "Moses wasn't a white guy! And he certainly didn't part the Red Sea with the end of a rifle!") I think the movie was made for the in-between group - those of us who have only read the book twice, sci-fi fans, kids, Monty Python fans, clinically depressed androids, etc. It's not that bad of a movie. Yes it's awkward at times, but so was the book. The movie has some loose ends, but so did "Weekend at Bernie's I". Some of the funniest things in the movie turned out to be the new parts. My favorite part from the book, however, was also my favorite part in the movie. It has to do with a pot of petunias and a whale, miles above the surface of a planet. That's all I'm going to say. And make sure you stay through the credits.

My rating: 38 (out of 42 stars)