Notes from the Cape

Last night we finally went to see The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. I have seen very mixed reviews of the film, so I was interested to it see for myself.

As a fan, my first reaction was “Hey! That did not happen in the books”, but then I started to realise that it would be almost impossible to do the film exactly like the books – which incidentally is not exactly like the original radio scripts anyway -  so why try? What was done very well is the inclusion of many sections of dialogue that I remember well from both the books and the radio series – a bit reminiscent watching a re-run of the Monty Python parrot sketch.  They also managed to maintain the fine balance of keeping the story close enough to the original plot to keep the fans happy, and keeping the film mainstream enough to keep the regular theatre goers happy. Lets face it – Douglas Adams’ books never followed anything like a normal plot.

The characters were well cast and portrayed. I was a bit surprised to hear an American accent on Zaphod (but it does work), although his third arm and extra head were not done as well as I would have liked. However the Vogons were exactly like I imagined them, and Marvin’s paranoia was realistic. I also got goose bumps when I heard the original radio series theme music (somewhat modernised) at the beginning of the film – a nice touch.

The sets were fantastic, a highlight for me was the construction yards in Magrathea. They really managed to portray the scope of the planet-building operation effectively.

It has taken over ten years to get the film for H2G2 to come to fruition, and I don’t think it will disappoint. It is a pity that Douglas Adams is not alive to see this project come to fruition, a fact recognised in the end credits “for Douglas Adams”.

A good film, well worth seeing, but I don’t think I will be buying the DVD anytime soon.

Ps: I am not sure why, but the tickets only cost R12 (about 1.5 Euro) for us both – cheaper than hiring a DVD at home!

Pps: If you are a fan, visit H2G2,the online guide, started by DNA himself.