HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY - A FORMER PURIST'S REVIEW - by Brooklyn

When it comes to movies based on books, I used to believe that any deviation from the original story was a crime worthy of flogging, beatings, or having to listen to William Shatner sing "Christma's Greatest Hits". Then last summer I saw HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN. This was the first Harry Potter movie to not follow the book to exactness, and it was beautiful. For the first time, Hary "became a real boy" to me. He had messy hair and his clothing looked used like a kid who had to wear the same uniform all year. The dialogue was like teenagers would speak. It was fantastic.

With this new found knowledge of myself, I entered HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY. HGTTG is in the top five of my favorite books of all time. The author, Douglas Adams, could be a member of Monty Python, except that the's not. This book is filled with irreverant humor about Life, the Universe, and drinking... lots of drinking.

SPOILER ALERT!!! DON NOT READ ON IF YOU HAVE ANY DESIRE TO WATCH THE MOVIE. IF YOU DONT THEN PLEASE, READ ON.

In the beginning of the movie, HGTTG ran exactly like the beginning of the book. (Except for the opening musical number with dolphins. Books can't usually pull off musical numbers very well.) After the earth explodes, the movie then becomes a "loose" interpretation of the book. I can not emphasize the word "loose" enough. John Malcovich's characer doesn't even exist in the books. Zaphod is supposed to be the coolest cat in the galaxy, Ford is in a perpetual state of inebrieation, and Trillian is the only one with a brain. In the movie, though, Zaphod is a mix between George Bush and Bill Clinton (yes, that's possible), Ford only drinks twice, and well, Trillian is still the only one with a brain. You could tell that the actors had the best time making this movie and it shows through their performances. Jim Henson's company did the aliens, so they actually looked like aliens and not Star Trek extras.

So, basically I recommend this movie. This is even kid friendly, unless I'm there and your kids are noisy wiggleworms. Then my handy copy of William Shatner Sings! will be their punishment.