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                                 Don't Panic

Wlofie and I saw The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy [1] today. I kept my
expectations lows and generally, when I do that, the result is usually better
than coming in with too high expectations. Overall, the movie was good but
there were the obvious bits of Hollywoodization to the story (some chase
scenes, a silly love interest story). The thing to remember about H2G2 (the
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) is that the story isn't faithful to itself
in any of the mediums it's been translated to. The radio version is different
than the book is different than the TV (Television) series is different than
the play(s) (there were two) were different than the computer game and this
movie is consistent in that it isn't consistent at all, which (given that the
book trilogy is five books long) fits H2G2.

The cast (mainly of unknown actors) is spot on perfect (and I absolutely
adored Zooey Deschanel [2] (Zooey—what a cool name) as Trillian). The visuals
(especially the Magrathea factory floor) are just wonderfully done. And the
new bits done specifically for the film are inventive (one involves a rescue
(I won't say who) by filling out the proper release forms of the proper
color, in triplicate and signed by the proper party with the only injury
being a rather nasty paper cut (although to be honest, any type of paper cut
is rather nasty) and another one involving the Point-of-View gun).

If you are a fan of H2G2 don't expect something that slavishly follows any of
the previous versions of H2G2 that have come before and just enjoy the ride.
If you aren't a particular fan of the work, it may be worth to view this once
it hits DVD (Digital Video Disc).

Also, stick around for the the credits. There's an amusing bit from the Guide
itself during the final credits (of the several animated segments in the
movie, they all look to be animated with Macromedia Flash; the sequences in
the TV series were I think more innovative even if they weren't done by an
actual computer. It's not to say the sequences were bad—they weren't, but I
think I preferred the TV sequences which had so much going on you couldn't
get it all at once).

[1] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0371724/
[2] http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0221046/

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