Oh no, not again

Film Sorry to bang on about this, but here is a review which perfectly captures the wrongness of the new HitchHiker's film:

"Most significantly, the film's ham-fisted efforts to make Dent a more rounded and likable character undercut the serious message beneath the original satire - the disheartening notion that humanity, despite all our pretensions, is in actuality desperately insignificant in the broader scheme of things. In the radio series, we are first presented as a minor species that superior aliens might thoughtlessly destroy, and later as mere cogs in another alien race's computer program. The film retains these elements, but by cherishing and validating Dent, it also contrives to reassert humanity's value and meaningfulness. This is especially evident in the film's closing sequences, in which a Slartibartfast who is much too dignified and insufficiently senile presents the reconstructed Earth not so much as a revived computer program, but more as a sort of tribute to Dent, with special attention paid to rebuilding his demolished country home. Subsequent images of beautiful plants, animals, and people coming to life visually characterize Earth and its myriad creatures as indeed something special - reinforcing the conceit that Adams was originally assailing."

The more I think about all this, the more bitter I become. I happened to rewatch the scenes and guide entries which were produced for Sanjeev Bhaskar's documentary for 'The Big Read' earlier and lamenting that in places they're more dramatically sound than what we got this weekend. In that we had Adam & Joe as the philosophers with Stephen Hawking's voice box playing Deep Thought. I'd take that over two kids and a bored sounding Helen Mirren any day... [via]