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CD & Books:
- Cert:
- Running time: 110 minutes
- Year: 2005
- Released: 28th April 2005
- Widescreen Ratio: 2.35:1
- Sound: DTS, Dolby Digital 5.1, SDDS
Director:
- Garth Jennings
Producers:
- Douglas Adams, Todd Arnow, Gary Barber, Roger Birnbaum, Derek Evans,Jonathan Glickman, Nick Goldsmith, Caroline Hewitt, Jay Roach & Robbie Stamp
Screenplay:
- Douglas Adams & Karey Kirkpatrick
Cinematographer:
- Igor Jadue-Lillo
Music:
- Joby Talbot
Cast:
- Arthur Dent: Martin Freeman
Ford Prefect: Mos Def
Zaphod Beeblebrox: Sam Rockwell
Tricia “Trillian” MacMillan: Zooey Deschanel
Marvin: Warwick Davis
Marvin (voice): Alan Rickman
The Guide (voice): Stephen Fry
Humma Kavula: John Malkovich
Slartibartfast: Bill Nighy
Deep Thought (voice): Helen Mirren
The Whale (voice): Bill Bailey
For some, The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy is a property to beworshipped and showered with plaudits. For most, The Hitchhiker’s Guide ToThe Galaxy is just an elaborate and intriguing title.,
The success of this film really depends on where you fall on the spectrum.For the uninitiated, Hitchhiker’s was a BBC radio series written by DouglasAdams, which became a series of books and a memorable BBC television seriesin the ’80s. A big-budget movie version of Douglas Adams‘ oh-so-Britishscience-fiction comedy has been on the cards since the early-90’s, onlyreaching cinema screens in 2005 – sadly, four years afters its creator diedof a heart-attack.
Without Adams at the helm, already die-hard fans can proclaim anyshortcomings due to the absence of Hitchhiker’s “father”, although Adamsmovie screenplay has remained largely unchanged, and all additionalcharacters (such as Malkovich’s religious leader) were added at the behestof its creator. So, even in death, Adams can shoulder some of the blame ifthe movie fails to translate.
Arthur Dent (Martin Freeman) is an everyday Englishman facing the imminentdemolition of his home, who soon learns – from the alien best-friend FordPrefect – that Earth itself is about to be destroyed (in 12 minutes) bybureaucratic aliens called Vogons. Therefore, Arthur and Ford “hitch” a liftaboard the spaceship Heart Of Gold – piloted by Marvin, a paranoid android,under the leadership of two-headed President Of The Galaxy ZaphodBeeblebrox, and the guidance of fellow earthling Tricia “Trillian”MacMillan.
It’s a deliciously spaced-out premise, beautifully played-out after theopening musical number, “So Long And Thanks For All The Fish” – performed bydolphins about to leave our doomed planet. Unfortunately, Hitchhiker’s hasnever really been about plot… so once the characters are introduced andthe silly humour established… things stagnate for much of the second act.
Thankfully, the latter third of the movie picks up the pace – once thecrew’s raison d’etre comes in the form of a mission to pose “The UltimateQuestion” to supercomputer “Deep Thought”, and retrieve a powerful weaponfor religious leader Humma Kavula (John Malkovich), who believes the Universe wascreated by a sneeze.
Hitchhiker’s is essentially Monty Python in Space, but overloaded with anabundance of sci-fi nonsense – some of it amusing, most of it inane. Ifyou’re a fan of the great British comedy traditions of crackpot reasoning,silly names, slapstick and farcical situations (all with a science-fictiontinge) then this may just be the funniest movie of the year. If, however,you find just comedy amusing, yet ultimately quite tedious after awhile…Hitchhiker’s is merely a pleasant way to while away a few hours. Nothingmore.
Martin Freeman (surfing a particularly large wave post-The Office success)tries admirably as Arthur Dent, but while he has the bewildered everymanpersona down to a fine art, he’s never a particularly likeable hero toshoulder an entire movie.
Mos Def is surprisingly good as Ford Prefect, the alien from a planet nearBetelgeuse. His casting was a surprise (being a black American rapper, itwould be!) but he performs well under the circumstances. Sadly, hisbest-friend relationship with Dent is wholly unbelievable – with anybest-buddy chemistry absent – and, after the initial “hitchhiking” sequenceearly on, his role is pretty superfluous.
Meanwhile, Sam Rockwell seems to be having a blast playing intergalacticplayboy Zaphod Beeblebrox (a mix of “Bill Clinton and Elvis Presley” as theactor himself puts it), but while his performance is energetic andcharismatic – it’s also quite badly written, and relies on Rockwell muggingto camera all too often.
Zooey Deschanel is a strange oddity as Trillian – both likeable andstrangely unappealing at the same time. Her romantic subplot with Arthur (anew facet to the Hitchhiker’s storyline) is somewhat forced, but actuallyquite good for the overall emotional arc of both characters. A shame it’spushed into the background most of the time, clouded by non-stop silliness.
Warwick Davis is the man in the suit of Marvin (the paranoid android) andcult figure of the Hitchhiker’s universe. The movie-suit gives Marvin a cuteJapanese styling that sits at odds with his downbeat personality, meaning hedoesn’t quite gel on-screen.
Alan Rickman‘s dulcet tones provides the real “heart” to Marvin’s character,and while Rickman does a fine job… it doesn’t alter the fact that Marvinis actually (whisper it) a pretty boring and unfunny character. Marv’sessentially a “one gag” addition to the crew; he never says anythingparticularly funny in a downbeat way, just whinges throughout the adventure.A wasted opportunity for comedy gold.
Stephen Fry is the voice of The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy itself – anelectronic book containing all the information of the Universe. Fry’s voiceinterrupts throughout the movie, narrating computer graphics to explainvarious situations and aliens to the audience. The Guide’s animations(inspired, seemingly, from Flash-enabled websites!) aren’t particularlyfunny, however, and while some of Fry’s dialogue raises a smile, it’s notlaugh-out-loud funny and actually slows the pace of the movie most of thetime.
The direction – by British music video creator Garth Jennings of “Hammer &Tongs” – is solid enough, bringing many of Douglas Adams’ creations to lifebrilliantly. Of particular note are the fabulous Vogons and theawe-inspiring “factory floor” where planets are created. The effectsthroughout are of a high-standard for a modestly budgeted sci-fi movie.
However, a bone of contention with Hitchhiker’s purists will be thecost-cutting decision to have Beeblebrox’s second head hidden under hisfirst head’s chin (and then, in a shameless plot device, removedaltogether!) but actually it works quite well.
Incidentally, for fans there are also some quite wonderful in-jokes pepperedthroughout the movie – including the appearance of Marvin’s TV-seriesalter-ego.
Overall, Hitchhiker’s is a good-natured romp that just isn’t particularlymemorable. Fans should get a kick out of seeing their heroes on-screen witha budget the BBC could only dream of, but will also find much to hate (keyingredients and gags are absent, folks). For the vast majority of people newto Douglas Adams’ world, this can be viewed as a vibrant and sporadicallyentertaining comedy that just never really delivers on its premise.
As already said, Hitchhiker’s started life as a radio series, and while thespace-based subject matter would seem to lend itself to the silver screen,the characters and dialogue-based comedy is perhaps better suited to radioand on the pages of Adams’ best-selling novels.
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Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.