Forty-Two (The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy (DVD))

Member Name: buzzard_cad

Product:	The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy (DVD)
Date:	05/05/05 (300 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Weird and wacky, Suitable for all

Disadvantages: Amerciansied, Hardcore fans may not like it

~Summary~

This is the new film version of the late Douglas Adams ‘Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’ radio show, books and 80’s TV series. The film is weird, wacky and fun. I took my wife to see it in the cinema and she thought it was very enjoyable. As it is a PG certificate it is suitable for most of the family and is probably most suited to the Alpha One male geek. Hardcore fans of the Hitchhiker’s series and Adams books may not like the film as some of the wackiness has been toned down from the books to appeal to a wider audience. (AKA - ‘Americanisation’).

~Background History~

The Hitchhiker series has been around since the early eighties when Adams wrote the script for a BBC radio show. He then translated this to five books and a TV series. However he wanted to make it into a film, but as the story visually is so weird and wacky, it needed a bit of computer special effects to make the scenes look good and work on camera. The film idea languished in Hollywood development stage hell in the late nineties until Adams death in 2001. Sadly his death provided a catalyst to the developers, they got a new writer and director on board and made the film a reality.

~Film Synopsis~

It is starts with one man, Arthur Dent who wakes up one morning in his quaint British cottage to discover that the council wants to demolish his house to make way for a new bypass. At the same time Arthur’s friend Ford Prefect turns up with a trolley of beer to tell Arthur that the Earth is about to be destroyed to make way for a new hyperspace bypass. You see Ford is not really from Guildford, he is an alien visitor to the planet Earth. He is a writer for a book called ‘The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy’ and he got stuck on Earth fifteen years ago.
Ford rescues Arthur from the Earth by get them both to hitch a lift with the Vogon construction fleet sent to destroy the Earth. Eventually they get dumped out of the Vogon spaceship into space and miraculously get picked up by the spaceship ‘Heart of Gold’. This is a brand new spaceship with a new drive on board called ‘The improbability drive’. The ‘Heart of Gold’ was recently stolen by the President of the Galaxy Zaphod Beeblebrox and his assistant/girlfriend Trillion. Zaphod and Ford are old friends and Trillion also knows Arthur as they once met at a party in a flat in Islington (London). Trillion’s real name was Tricia McMillan and she was tempted away from Arthur by Zaphod to travel the galaxy in his spaceship. Zaphod takes Trillon, Ford and Arthur on a quest to find Margaretha an ancient and fabled planet that many years ago developed and built many new planets. On this planet there is a computer that has the answer to the ultimate question of life, the galaxy and everything.
From the ‘Heart of Gold’ Arthur learns many unusual things about Earth, the galaxy and why Marvin the ship’s android is so depressed. All the while they are trying to avoid the attention of the bureaucratic Vogon’s and find the answer to the ultimate question.

~The Cast~

Main Actors
Arthur Dent – Martin Freeman (Tim in The Office, Love Actually)
Ford Prefect – Mos Def (Monsters Ball, Italian Job)
Zaphod Beeblebrox – Sam Rockwell (The Green Mile, Galaxy Quest)
Trillion/Trisha McMillan – Zooey Deschanel (Elf, Almost Famous)
Marvin – Warwick Davies (Wicket in Return of the Jedi, Willow)
Slartibartfast – Bill Nighy (Love Actually, Shaun of the Dead)
Questular – Anna Chancellor (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Agent Cody Banks 2)
Humma Kavula – John Malkovich (Being John Malkovich, Johnny English)

Voice Actors
The Guide – Stephen Fry (British lovey)
Marvin – Alan Rickman (Harry Potter films)
Deep Thought – Helen Mirren (Calender Girls)

~The Film~

The Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy starts with one of the weirdest pieces of movie introduction that I have seen in my entire movie experience. First the ‘Guide’ voiced by Stephen Fry using the plummiest British accent he could muster, informs the viewer that man is the third most intelligent creature on the planet Earth. The second is the dolphin, who knows about the impending doom facing Earth. Unfortunately man doesn’t understand the whistling noises and the playful actions of the dolphins, assuming that they are just having fun. Cue lots of sequences of Dolphins leaping out of the water and music playing with the chorus singing ‘So long and thanks for all the fish’.

The opening sequence is so unusual that I was expecting the film to be totally wacky as it is in the book of the same title. To my surprise the film heads of in a normal way, by introducing the characters and moving on telling the opening scenes of the book, almost word for word as written by the late Douglas Adams. Finally new non-Adams elements are added and appended to the original story as we meet Trillion and Zaphod. The film slows slightly as the story introduces another character called Humma Kavala played with typical menace by John Malkovich. By the middle part of the film you have a little time to think and try to work out where the story has come from and how well the main actors are doing.

Martin Freeman does a good job of playing a bemused Arthur Dent, who is still trying to come to terms with the destruction of his planet. His main problem is the lack of a decent cup of tea. He is suited to this role as he carries the look a puzzled inquisitiveness really well. I think he does a good job of the script that is given to him and has created a modern yet familiar Arthur Dent.

Zooey Deschanel as Trillion has a little more script to work on than the character in the book as Arthur’s love interest. Hollywood has tacked on the Trillion/Arthur love scenes, but they are a good addition if you are trying to keep the attention of the ladies and I think it works. Miss Deschanel does a good job of keep a sense of wacky to the proceedings as Trillion, by calmly accepts anything that is put in her way, with the exception of the destruction of Earth.

Sam Rockwell plays up to the showmanship that is required for the character of Zaphod Beeblebrox and brings to the film some much needed pace and fizz. He brings out the dynamic and wacky side of the film and is probably my favourite character of the film.

Mos Def has a tough time playing Ford Prefect, but this is not due to any bad acting. No, it is due to the writers taking away part of the Ford character’s role and giving it to the ‘Guide’. I felt that Mos Def was good playing Ford at the beginning of the film, but by the end he had disappeared into the background and was almost surplus to requirement. The way the script was written gave no scope for the Ford character to develop and hence let the actor down, by giving him nothing to work on. A shame really.

~Conclusions~

The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy is a good film, but not a great film. It has lost some of the unusual and weird stories that were in the book and replaced them with the traditional love scenes and a few extra slow scenes. I think all involved did a good job with the script given to them by the writers, but I think that without Douglas Adams involvement the film has suffered from a lack of effervescence and drive. In short the film will cover a larger audience but at a cost to the original fans of the Hitchhiker book series. I think it is a shame that some of the Britishness and irreverence has been left out of the film, as this is what made the books so enjoyable. I recommend this film to people who have never heard or read the books as this is a good introduction to the world of the late Douglas Adams.

Thanks for reading

Martin

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