Hitchhiker's was my favorite book back in my teens. I had the lowest of expectations when I heard the movie was coming out.
I just saw it again last night, and you know what? It's perfect. It's brilliant. It's hysterically funny, in a multi-layered way. The characterizations are dead-on, exactly like I'd imagined them years ago. The visualizations are incredibly imaginative.
Plus, the movie really stands on its own merits, regardless of the how familiar one may be with the books/TV show/radio version. It follows the long, wonderfully weird tradition of absurdist British humor. Think Monty Python, most of Terry Gilliam's films (especially Time Bandits), the Muppet movies (like The Dark Chrystal, a hybrid American/British production).
Hitchhiker succeeds in transcending the usual cynicism, however. I left the theater feeling truly inspired, feeling like a wide-eyed child again. I think it sends a wonderful, deeply felt message, one that I would want my own children to understand. Shakespeare said it best: "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
I just saw it again last night, and you know what? It's perfect. It's brilliant. It's hysterically funny, in a multi-layered way. The characterizations are dead-on, exactly like I'd imagined them years ago. The visualizations are incredibly imaginative.
Plus, the movie really stands on its own merits, regardless of the how familiar one may be with the books/TV show/radio version. It follows the long, wonderfully weird tradition of absurdist British humor. Think Monty Python, most of Terry Gilliam's films (especially Time Bandits), the Muppet movies (like The Dark Chrystal, a hybrid American/British production).
Hitchhiker succeeds in transcending the usual cynicism, however. I left the theater feeling truly inspired, feeling like a wide-eyed child again. I think it sends a wonderful, deeply felt message, one that I would want my own children to understand. Shakespeare said it best: "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy."