THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY
Theatrical Release: April 2005?! Really? This movie is that old?
Genre: Sci-Fi
Sub-genre: Comedy Sci-Fi with Muppets
Starring: Martin Freeman, the guy who plays Tim in the British version of The Office (Jim, to you Yanks); Mos Def; Sam Rockwell (sure, you know him... he's in that new movie, Choke); John Malkovich makes a brief but disturbing appearance
The Overview: A movie adaptation of the book which itself was an adaptation of a British radio show (all with the same easily recognizable name). Arthur Dent, mild-mannered, neurotic British bloke is about to have his house bulldozed by the city to make way for a bypass when his quirky friend, Ford Prefect, shows up to buy him lots of beer and tell him the Earth's about to be blown up to make room for an intergalactic bypass. Ford and Arthur "hitchhike" onto the approaching ship and escape obliteration. They're confronted by dozens of quirky alien types. Hilarity ensues.
Many positive things to say about this movie. As anyone can gauge by reading these, I'm not a fan of using computer generated images unless it's necessary. The temptation when making a movie like HHGTTG would be to create a cast of characters in the realm of computer animation and hope the actors interact with their imaginations well enough. This, however, is not the case with this movie. The aliens are superbly created by Jim Henson's creature shop and feel as real as the dolphins singing "Thanks For All The Fish." They have an enormous screen presence, very life-like, amazingly original... I can't say enough good things about the creatures. To the best of my recollection, there are no computer-generated characters in the movie.
The story moves along better in film format than I remember it doing so in book form. I'm sure a lot of hardcore fans (aka: nerds) would disagree with me. The humor is much better represented thru the lightning quick back-and-forth of the actors than it ever was any of the times I tried to read the book. Mos Def is surprisingly good as Ford Prefect, Arthur's friend who turns out to be an intergalactic traveler writing a blurb about Earth for the titular Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy. Mos Def plays Ford better than most would, his mannerisms at times bold and loud and others reserved and subtle. He's very comfortable playing someone who sees a towel as a weapon, shield, scarf, all-purpose utensil. Sam Rockwell... Well, as often as I've seen him in other movies but couldn't place him or name him, I'll always remember him for this movie as Zaphod Beeblebrox (those Brit's and their wacky character names, eh?) Sam's Zaphod borders on sociopath in almost every scene. His completely arrogant, completely checked out President of the Universe is an unpredictable, almost unstable narcissist who keeps his dangerous side under wraps only because it's literally wrapped under a scarf where his neck should be. Like Mos Def, I couldn't imagine another actor playing it so well. Awesome casting with Ford and Zaphod. A spinoff movie starring just the 2 of them would be awesome if it wasn't such a deviation from the book. Also included in my imaginary awesome spinoff: the overly enthusiastic computer voice from the ship. "Aw geeze, I'd love to fella, but I just can't do that right now! Thanks a LOT!" (voiceover provided by Thomas Lennon, better known as Lt. Dangle from Reno 911! or as just one of the original cast members of the hugely underappreciated mid-90's sketch comedy show, The State.)
The main character and his love interest, however... Ok, maybe Arthur Dent is supposed to be a regular Joe Six-Pack (thanks, Palin!) but there are always limits. Let's forget for the sake of this review that for the entire span of this movie, Dent looks like he just woke up with a bad hangover and a haircut someone gave him
while he was passed out. Trillian, the girl he loved back on Earth (after a night where he missed his opportunity to get invited "back to her flat") has coincidentally found herself on a ship with Dent, the last 2 survivors of Earth. The chemistry isn't what I would call fireworks. Not even a bottle rocket. More like a Bic. An out of fluid Bic. So the love interest of the movie is a bloated, pasty Brit in love with a no-name actress (Zooey Deschanel is her name... Really? Zooey?!) and it really doesn't work. He's pining away for this girl after one night where she just wasn't that into him and she's pretty run-of-the-milk in the looks department. I would gladly substitute 30 minutes of Arthur's whining about this chick (I don't care to remember her character's name) with a rough cut of Mos Def and Sam Rockwell doing Zaphod and Ford just hanging out. They're hilarious. You have to check out the deleted scenes on DVD. Awesome. **Last minute notice: Zooey Deschanel is apparently also in The Happening with Mark Wahlberg. So... Good for her.
The book and the entire story allow for (and provide) some incredible outside-the-box thinking and plot advancements. The Improbability Drive? An alien race that thrives on order, forms, and paperwork and is NOT affiliated with the federal government? A company that builds custom worlds? These are genius ideas and to see them all intertwined makes you appreciate the author, Douglas Adams. And when you read the resume of the films director Garth Jennings, you'll be even more impressed. This is Jennings' one and only feature length film. Period. And it goes together very well. He does a fantastic job pulling the humor, characters, sarcasm, and scope from the original story and making it work on the big screen. I'd like to see him do any sequels to this. Great movie, would've been better if I could warm up to the MAIN CHARACTER but everything else made up for it. Enjoy!
Best Scene: While being shot at by dozens of Vogons, Zaphod dances like a mofo in the hail of bullets, completely oblivious to the danger but completely aware of the strobelight effects the guns produce. I laughed my arse off...
Overall: 8 out of 10. I'm sorry Martin Freeman, but someone else should've been cast as Arthur Dent. I'm not a casting director so I couldn't recommend anyone else but you just don't do it for me in this role. But I loved you in The Office!
Who would enjoy this movie: Anyone from 10 to 99 who likes witty slapstick, intelligently delivered in a rapid-fire manner; Hitchhiker Nerds usually already know who they are since there's a HUGE cult following.
What my wife said: "I don't know cuz I read the book. You know how you never do a review if you've read the book?"
Watch it if you like: Mom And Dad Save The World; Coneheads; Beetlejuice; The Hitchhiker books... There's like, 5 of them...
Next In My Netflix Q: The long-postponed Sex And The City...
**Thanks to Google, Wikipedia, and IMDb for various reference sources**
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