Hitchhiker Movie Review Three
Created | Updated May 5, 2005
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
By Touchstone Pictures and Spyglass Entertainment. Rated PG.
The film is based on Douglas Adams' best-selling comic sci-fi novel/radio series/tv series/stage show/computer game/towel of the same name. Douglas spent the last 10 years of his life in Los Angeles trying to get the film produced and, after his death, his friends and associates continued his work. It's based on a script written by him and Karey Kirkpatrick and, of course, dedicated to him.
It starts off in the same way as the novel and radio show, with hapless Englishman Arthur Dent trying to disuade some council workers from bulldozing his house to make way for a bypass. Soon his best friend Ford Prefect turns up and not only informs him that he's actually an alien from a distant planet, but also that the entire Earth is about to be destroyed by Vogons to make way for a hyperspace express route. Fortunately, Arthur and Ford are able to hitch a ride on the Vogon 'constructor' ship. They meet up with Galactic President Zaphod Beeblebrox and his girlfriend Trillian and from then on, things become wilder and wackier.
Each time Douglas Adams produced a new verison of Hitchhiker's he changed the plot somewhat, and the film is no exception. It contains a lot of material from the book/radio series (compressed for practical reasons) and also has some new plotlines and ideas. The plot is actually more coherant and self-contained than in the original, and it even has a happy ending. The romantic interest between Arthur and Trillian is played up and forms part of it.
The special effects are quite good – much better than in the TV series. Zaphod Beeblebrox still has two heads and three arms. They appear and disappear, but look quite real when they're there. The Vogons are convincing in a disgusting, grey/green, lumpy, smelly way. Not that you can smell them on film, of course, but I'm sure you could in real life. The space scenes and scenes on other planets are great – particularly the one where Arthur's taken on a tour of the planet building facilities on Magrathea.
Zaphod Beeblebrox is played by Sam Rockwell and is suitably scruffy, laid back and egotistical. Martin Freeman plays the bewildered, bumbling Arthur, spending the whole movie in his pyjamas and dressing gown. He has his moments of decisiveness and bravery, unlike in the book/radio series, where he spends most of his time searching for a good cup of tea. Zooey Deschanel plays Trillian, but is less intelligent than in the original, as she's just a woman who likes travelling rather than an astrophysicist. Mos Def plays Ford, but I'm not sure why he was chosen as he doesn't fit the description of Ford in the original. Likewise, I was disappointed with the robot Marvin the Paranoid Andriod, as he's short, round and featureless. I'd always imagined him as tall, lanky and more detailed. He's kind of cute in the film, but he wasn't really intended to be. Warwick Davis wears the costume and Alan Rickman provides his voice. Stephen Fry provides the voice of Ford's electronic Hitchhiker's Guide.
The film starts and ends with scenes of singing, performing dolphins, and has lots of humour inbetween. As in the novel, part of the plot revolves around the search for the Question to the Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything. (The answer being, of course, 42). Towels also play an important, although in this case unexplained, function. The film is very funny and upbeat and well worth seeing.
