H2G2 review.. at last!!

Hi all,
Sorry for not blogging for some time now, but I guess the presence of a final project counts as a valid excuse :-).

So, Karthik, me and a bunch of others went to first-day night show of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy[also known as H2G2], the movie adaptation of the vastly popular trilogy in five parts written by Douglas N. Adams (a.k.a. DNA) which is a must-read for all geeks and sci-fi-humor fans!

And now, on with the review:
I must say that I spent the week before watching the movie in reading the book (1st part) and catching up on the story, so my views may be a little different than your standard non-geek friend's.

[summary]
The movie starts with a regular (British) earthbeing, Arthur Dent, waking up to find that his house is going to be demolished to make way for a highway! That shock is surpassed only by the discovery of the fact that his good friend Ford Prefect is actually an alien from the neighborhood of the star Betelguese and that the earth too is going to be demolished to make way for a galactic expressway!! Ford saves Arthur by hitching a ride in a spaceship and their journey begins, in which they meet Zaphod Beeblebrox, who is the president of the galaxy and a cousin of Ford (they share three mothers) and Trillian, who is an earthperson whom Zaphod took with him on his last trip to the earth (just as Arthur was getting to know her... )

What follows is a bunch of laughs and amazing circumstances, which I do not want to divulge for fearing of spoiling your fun - but I can say one thing - GO WATCH THIS MOVIE!!

[my comments]
I first read the books in 2002, during my summer internship at INRIA, and instantly my piscean mind fell in love with Adams' imagination - the books are a must read, even if you have seen the movie.

So, I was very afraid that the director may not have done justice to the book. In fact, I was expecting a 50% justice. However, I was most pleasantly surprized to see that they actually managed to get a 75% !! The biggest thing that caught me by surprize was the excellent inclusion of the Hitchhiker's Guide book's excerpts, just as in the stories. The whale scene was also nice :-) .

The 25% where they went away from the book consists mainly of the scenes where they have accentuates the love-angle between Arthur and Trillian. Not to forget that the actress is simply gorgeous and people won't mind seeing her more, but this was one part that is very different from the books. There are also some sideplots that are either not in the books at all or are placed out-of-order as compared to the books.

Finally, Marvin, the "electronic sulking machine", as Arthur describes him, is absolutely great! The robot conveys all its emotions (and they fairly complex ones) with an excellent combination of body language and voice modulation.

All in all, a movie worth watching, methinks.

Have you seen the movie also? Please leave behind your comments and let all know what you think.

Some interesting links .. all from BBC:
1. Guide could become trilogy (I am so waiting for that to happen - A)
2. A Guide to the Guide (an interesting read - A)

cheers
-Animesh