MovieChat Forums > The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005) Discussion > The story is just dated like the book.

The story is just dated like the book.

posted 9 years ago by alimhaider
17 replies | jump to latest

The reason this film just dosent click is the humour and story comes from a source that has dated badly.
It was a massive story in the 1980s united kingdom. By 2005 when it was finaly made into a movie it was out of date.
The filming style was also out if date. Especially the special effects.
The humour was funnny in the 80s and the concepts were familiar with people who grew up on Monty python and working title British movies like time bandits. Surrealism really doesn't work in sci fi movies.
It needed a serious reworking with up to dare concepts , better effect and less time spent on the narration and the annoying cartoons sent to make the script make sense.

So many faults this could have been a great movie.

[–] hailthecgisnake 9 years ago

I disagree: I first read this book 3 years ago or so and it clicked with me. The film's main problem was that it didn't know whether to be a surreal comedy in keeping with the rest of the Hitchhiker's canon, or whatever passes for canon in Hitchhiker's, or strike out on its own with something completely different (no pun intended), which would have been as much, if not more, in keeping with Hitchhiker's tradition. It instead became an uneasy, unfunny compromise, with most of the blood in its veins surgically extracted. Watch the T.V series, the animation's more fun.

[–] huwdj 9 years ago

I disagree. I think the problem with the film is all the extra business they've added whilst dropping lots of the original jokes. If they'd just made the 1st book it would have been better - and then they could have worked through the rest as sequals. Perhaps the original is very British but that doesn't seem to be a problem in the USA, or indeed the rest of the World, when it's done well.
Then agan, given that Douglas Adams aparently wrote (most of?) the script - what do I know?

[–] justanicknamed 9 years ago

I never read the books or saw the shows, but I loved the movie. My son (13) was familiar with the answer, "42", but didn't know where it was from.

We watched it and he enjoyed it as well. We often say, "so long and thanks for all the fish" when something really bad happens in a show, and if I'm close enough to him when he says, "I think", I'll get as close to slapping him in the face as I can.

My wife got mad because if I wasn't close enough I'd say, "Don't think!" She thought I was insulting him, until we showed her that scene and she understood that I was "saving" him from the pain associated with thinking. 

[–] greyson-forkturner 9 years ago

"Then agan, given that Douglas Adams aparently wrote (most of?) the script - what do I know? "

In fact he was forced to rewrite over and over to the point where he didn't want it made. It wasn't released until nearly 4 years after his death, and i doubt that he would have liked the resultant heap of meh.

[–] AngryShoes 9 years ago

I believe he described the process of writing the script and getting the movie made like "trying to grill a steak by having a succession of people blow on it".

[–] actionkamen (23176) 5 years ago

Weird blow job. But eh whatever.

[–] alatartblue 9 years ago

You just criticised all the things that this movie actually does well. It's the parts that are "updated" or "reworked" that make this movie as bad as it is.

[–] bond_98 9 years ago

I don't see how humor can become outdate. I think it has more to do if someone actually has a sense of humor and if they can take a joke. Many people today simply cant. Maybe people in the 80's were more laid back and fun loving. I know today's TV seems to be all about neurotic characters who can't crack a smile to save their lives.

[–] justanicknamed 8 years ago

It isn't like the humor in this movie is all pop-culture humor, where if you aren't familiar with the current B-list celebrities you won't get the joke.

And, it isn't like this movie takes place in the 80's (or some other time in the past) where you have to be familiar with the history to appreciate the humor.

[–] poem 8 years ago

I have no clue what you're talking about.

I think this book will be just as great in 1000 years as say the stuff of Astrid Lindgren.

---
A gentleman will not insult me, and no man not a gentleman can insult me.

[–] tom-2979 8 years ago

Could not disagree more. I love this story. It's set in a future where the only thing that sets it apart from time is the ipad-like electronic book.

Like others have said, this story is classic - it will easily go down in history as a classic piece of literature. Under the technology of the ipad (the guide) its a pure classic story of an existential crisis and beautiful human race paradox.

I love everything about this timeless classic.

[–] mimosveta 8 years ago

The only reason this failed is cause book is so colorful thar anyone who has ever read it has imagined in a very particular way and no movie could ever satisfy majority of viewership.

[–] therefdotcom 8 years ago

i disagree. most people (including me) loved the TV series and the radio plays.

there are many things wrong with the film, unfortunately.

[–] davidparr-12867 8 years ago

Wow. Submit the perfect movie script and see how far it gets shoved up your rectum mr perfect.

[–] actionkamen (23176) 5 years ago

Umm... it's Prefect, Mr. Ford Prefect.