2004-09-14

42

Upon reflection, after seeing the teaser trailer for The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy movie, it seems they're promoting it wrong. I know full well that every iteration of the story has had differences, from radio to book to TV to computer game to comics, etc. But if I were to describe the story (any of them) to someone, the phrase "the most astonishing adventure in the universe" doesn't come to mind.

I've always thought of it primarily as a comedy with adventure elements. The comedy comes from several places, but since visual adaptations don't have the benefit of DNA's (Douglas Adams') wordplay, what we're left with is primarily the concept of bizarre occurrances being dealt with in a sedated British everyman style. This can be done well and successfully, as seen recently in a different genre with the British film Shaun of the Dead, so it's quite possible that the movie itself does this, but the teaser trailer is trying to market it at a different audience. We shall see.

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