| The Movie [message #23575] |
Fr, 29 April 2005 18:55 |
|
I went to see the movie on it's first night here and was pleased to see that
it was busy, not crowded but busy. I went with an open mind, knowing that it
had major changes from the book (shame but understandable) and I was really
looking forward to it, intending to treat it as a new stand alone film. When
it came to it I just couldn't do that, what was there was generally very
good, some was great but I was so sorry that they missed out some of the
very best lines from the books. Douglas sweated blood crafting the books and
it was heartbreaking to see some of the best examples of his genius just
simply missed out. The scene with Mr Prosser, towels, babel fish/God etc
etc. I know that to appeal to modern audiences now you are supposed to have
a love interest etc and from that point of view I accept the rewriting as
necessary. But I felt that the balance of the film was wrong.
Some of the new stuff is brilliant .. eg the face slappers .. that's pure
Douglas Adams. So although the plot was hard to follow as the non-fan I took
with me pointed out, some threads unnecessary eg the Humma thing, I still
want to like it because much of it was still brilliant Adams. It was
fabulous to see Douglas's Mum and family in it, and all the clever
references to the great man. Loved the Vogon characters (too much of them
though) and the design of Marvin.
I have to agree with more or less everything Aphelion and Nancy have said.
There was a round of applause at the end. Had they kept more of the genius
bits in there might have been a standing ovation !
I hope the film does well, it deserves to, and it is good to attract new
fans and rekindle old ones.
|
|
|
