Don't Panic

On the subject of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Fount of Useless Information has this to say:

The film actually translated the tone, style and story of the book about as well as they could be translated to 110 minutes on the big screen. That is not to say that the movie was perfect, or even great for that matter. Far too many times, fans of the series will find themselves wondering where a certain scene has gone or why some of the exposition of the Guide itself is missing. These are, of course, to be expected: Movies must be enjoyable, movies must be simple to follow, movies must reach a large audience, movies must pack as much action and romance into the short run time as possible, and above all movies must make money. That these changes were not unexpected does not mean that they are not disappointing. Any fan who went in expecting to see a dramatized version of Douglas Adams' book will be sorely disappointed.

The casting choices all seemed to work relatively well, though the always-impressive Sam Rockwell managed to make the character of Zaphod Beeblebrox even more annoying than he already was. While Rockwell, Mos Def and Freeman gained top billing, the show was truly stolen by Marvin, played in body by Warwick Davis and in voice by Alan Rickman.

The visual interpretations of many of the scenes were impressive to see, but that can only take a movie so far. With its wit tempered by the limitation of the Guide's role in the film, THHGTTG became less of a clever satire and more of an amusing farce. While the movie remained enjoyable, it failed to live up to the high expectations that almost all Adams fans set before casting ever began. The ultimate question is: did it ever have a chance?

Until later...