The book was strange, but in a quirky and fun way. The movie, on the other hand, was just weird and a bit confusing. Click here for my review of the book.
Book Accuracy
It started out the same. Arthur’s house is about to get destroyed and so is earth. Ford shows up to save him and they hitch a ride on a Vogon ship where they’re not wanted. Before they get swallowed by space, they’re rescued by the Heart of Gold. But that’s about where things go astray. There’s an entire plotline introduced where Zaphod gets the location of Magrathea and must bring back a weapon. Trillian is captured by the Vogons and they have to go save her. None of that happens in the book except that they go to Magrathea.
Characters
Arthur was the same and Ford was close, though he was described white in the book and was black in the movie. the romance between Arthur and Trillian is definitely bumped up in the movie to the point where they fall in love. Zaphod’s whole motive doesn’t seem to be money like it was in the book. Instead, he’s consumed with being the one to find the Ultimate Question.
Plot
Since most of the plot is different, the ending it totally different, too. It was sort of like whoever wrote the screenplay took elements of the book and stuck them in there, but nothing happened in the same way, for the same reasons, or with the same outcome. It had a much happier, typical Hollywood ending.
Overall Entertainment
It was okay. It was certainly strange like the book, but the movie did this seemingly without reason. They tried to construct a deeper plotline, but in doing so killed all the charm of the book. Fans of the book probably aren’t happy with the movie, and I’m guessing if you’re not a fan of the book, you’ll just find the movie bizarre. In the end, this is probably why no one seems to like the movie much.
Movie Trailer
Did you see the movie or read the book? What did you think?
My Review
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Book Accuracy
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Characters
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Plot
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Overall Entertainment
i liked the book WAAAAAY better than the movie. But the movie has a strange humor that was similar to the book, but in a way that could only be visual. I did a report on this movie in a film class in high school and I still can laugh for about 5 minutes in the scene right before the earths demolition with people/sheep screaming when they zoom out of earth an absurd amount of times. I don’t know why that gets me, but it does haha.
I have a (very new) blog where I am going to do review on books and movies and things here: https://foxingsandfables.wordpress.com
The visuals were nice. I especially liked in the movie when they all turned knitted. :)
I liked the movie a lot, but it was in no way as good as the book, which is a classic and I don’t think any movie can match it. But, taken by itself, it’s a good movie.
Plus, I just loved Marvin. He’s great in the book with with Alan Rickman’s voice it brought that character to a whole new, better level than the books.
The movie had so much potential. There was just so much they could have done with it, and in some ways the visuals added up, but yeah. Wasn’t awesome. Alan Rickman is always awesome :)
I liked the movie a lot. I liked the books a lot. I also enjoyed the original BBC 6 part miniseries and the radio broadcast.
What each of them had in common was that they were all evolution of the Story. Adams himself had a hand in all of them including the movie, he suggested the story line for both Magrathea and the increased love interest between Trillian and Aurthur.
Each time the story changed mediums, it changed itself as well and I think the movie was well done, but like you I did enjoy the books better.
I didn’t know there was also a miniseries! I’ll have to check that out.