At The Movies

Andrew and I went to see "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy". I realize this movie is not exactly breaking news, but we somehow never got around to seeing it when it was in the first run theaters. So we went to an evening showing at a second run place.

I've actually never read any of the Hitchhiker's Guide series. (I know, I'm a failure as a nerd.) Andrew was the one who really wanted to see it. I myself am more excited about Hayao Miyazaki's latest, "Howl's Moving Castle", which should be getting out of my dreams and into wide release this Friday. So I went in with a kind of "take it or leave it" attitude. Given all this, I did have a pretty fun time.

The "Hitchhiker's Guide" movie isn't going to change your life in any direction. It's not a total visual extravaganza, it's not mind-alteringly deep, and it's more subtly humorous than gut busting funny. But sometimes that's fine and this is one of those cases. It was kind of nice to see a movie that wasn't trying to wow me with special effects every other scene. Not to say that the effects aren't good, but they seem content to take a back seat to the story. The various aliens all looked good, though Marvin felt a little light in the weight department. The sets were nicely understated, the acting was solid and convincing, all in all it did it's job. I guess my one real complaint, though it's fairly light, is that most of the aliens did end up looking human. It kind of took away from the whole "Earth blew up and you're the last two humans in existence" thing. But again, I haven't read the book so I don't know how accurate this was.

So yeah, it's a fun view, if not really must see material. I'd recommend it.

Oh, and Andrew says the robot waiting in line is the Marvin design from the "Hitchhiker's Guide" TV show.