The Hitchhiker's Guide To Sin City

Well, I went out with a friend on a man-date to see Sin City, but it was sold out (on a Wednesday? A month after it was released?), so we watched Hitchhiker's as our Plan B.

I liked it, but it was a strange and sometimes unsatisfying experience, as there was an ever-present overlay of the original TV version in my head, making me acutely aware whenever something would diverge, or be cut, or even not sound quite right. On the other hand, I did like a lot of the stuff that was new in this version. Discretion is probably the better part of valor here, so I will not attempt to list any examples.

Some other random hitchhiking thoughts:

Casting was mixed. Bill Nighy (Slartibartfast) was great, like he always is. Mos Def doesn't quite have the chops for Ford; Sam Rockwell was perfect as the obnoxious, self-absorbed, ADD Zaphod; Zooey Deschanel was adequate as Trillian; and Martin Freeman was good, but still can't hold a candle to the original Arthur, Simon Jones (who has a brief, holographic cameo). Alan Rickman was a logical choice as Marvin, but wasn't nearly as effective as the original, and the tiny-body-big-head thing made Marvin look too childlike and cute (Asimo? Asimarvin?), which I think was a mistake. Stephen Fry was outstanding as the voice of the Guide, I really thought they had used the original narrator. The Guide animation was also excellent, very stylish and whimsical (I especially liked the Vogon grandmother...).

It seemed to me that the aspect of Zaphod, President Of The Galaxy, being a blithering idiot and figurehead with a southern accent was played up a lot more than in the original. One wonders if this is entirely coincidental...

There was an additional plotline that is resolved at the end, that I thought was unnecessary but unsurprising. I won't say any more, so as not to spoil the mild surprise.

I had forgotten just how much I liked the theme music. "So Long And Thanks For All The Fish" was quite... catchy as well. It's still stuck in my head, in fact.

I feel like I should have a grand, overarching theme to advance here, but I don't, other than that I think it's worth seeing, and my gut feeling is that it's better if you haven't read the books or seen the original, because you won't realize what's missing.