I went to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy movie last night. As I’ve alluded to in other entries, I’m a pretty serious Douglas Adams fan. In the late 80’s there was talk that Ivan Reitman of Ghost Busters fame was going to do a HHGTTG movie, but nothing ever came of it.
Fans of the radio series and the six episode tv series know exactly what Arthur looks and sounds like, along with all the others such as Zaphod, Trillian, Slartibartfast and, of course, Marvin. Casting Martin Freeman as Arthur Dent worked perfectly. His mannerisms and appearance were very close to those of Simon Jones. Mos Def as Ford Prefect worked, too.
The two biggest differences in the lead characters were the way they portrayed Zaphod’s heads and the overall appearance of Marvin. They built on something alluded to in the books about Zaphod and Marvin’s appearance conveyed as much as the original one did.
The effects were top notch and the script was classic Douglas Adams. Look for at least two cameos by members of the original series.
The best bit is that the film left the possibility of a sequel (or more hopefully, sequels). if we’re lucky, we won’t have to wait another twenty years!