Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The (2005)

"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", by Douglas Adams is just one of those things that's been a staple of geek culture right up there with Lord Of The Rings for years.  I still remember my friends back in high school quoting it religiously, though it wasn't until just a few years ago that I read the series of  books for myself that I realized just how much they were quoting it.  And all this time I thought "42" was a Monty Python reference to an episode I hadn't seen or something.  But you'll find out the significance of 42 yourself when you watch the movie or read the book.  My advice though, read the book first.

On one particular Thursday, Arthur Dent (Martin Freeman), finds that his house is going to be demolished to make way for a highway bypass. Not the start of a good day.  Then he finds out his planet is going to be destroyed for similar reasons.  Even worse day.  Throw this on top of the fact that his best friend, Ford Prefect (Mos Def), is an alien from the Betelgeuse galaxy, and you have the start of one of the strangest and funniest adventures in the universe. 

Garth Jennings had one of the toughest jobs in the universe when he decided to adapt the classic novel by Douglas Adams.  Sure it'd been adapted twice before as both a radio and televison series, but Douglas Adams was at least alive then to take part in the creative process.  Unfortunatly, he died back in 2001, though at least he wrote the script for this version along with Karey Kirkpatrick, who is most well known for writing the script to Chicken Run.  But still putting something on screen that so many people have envisioned in their heads and dreamed of seeing all their lives had to be a near improbable task.   

And to be fair, he did a decent job with the material.  Only problem is, the movie feels like it's been cut to pieces, then edited back.  For example, certain scenes in the story, like the exchange between Arthur and Mr. Prosser, the man in charge of demolishing his house in the book are brilliant witty bits of humor.  Then in the film nearly the entire dialouge is brought to a few lines, losing all the humor but to those that know the book nearly by heart like myself.   Then on top of all this you tack on an unneccessary love story between Arthur and Trillian (Zooey Deschanel), and a love intrest for Zaphod, the Galactic President (Sam Rockwell), and you've got just about all that's wrong with the movie. 

Now, with all its faults, it's still worth watching if you're a fan.  After all, it is still Hitchiker's Guide To The Galaxy, and each incarnation of the story is different from the last, so there's no definitive canon as to what the story is.  The set up remains the same, just the execution differs.   The special effects by the Jim Henson team for the Vogons are spot on brilliant.  Nearly exactly how I'd pictured them while reading the book.   And the rest of the production crew that brought the book to life did a great job with the sets I thought.  Wasn't quite how I'd pictured some of the locations and things, like Marvin, the paranoid android (voiced by Alan Rickman), but aspects of books never quite look exactly as you envisioned them in your head when they're brought to the big screen, well, outside of Sin City anyway.

My favorite part of the movie, as in the book series, is Zaphod Beeblebrox, the President of the galaxy.  Here played to comic genius by Sam Rockwell.  His Zaphod is a mixture of George W. Bush, a rock star, and a surfer.  He has no idea what's going on, what's going to happen next or how he got to where he is.   When he's on screen I just could not keep myself from smiling. 

Now for the controversial choice of Mos Def as Ford Prefect; I had no problem with his performance.  Def is a fine actor.  I do wish he could have at least attempted a British accent, his admittance to Arthur that he wasn't at all from Guildford loses something I think when he doesn't even sound like he's from anywhere near Guildford.  Other than that, he's got great chemistry with Zaphod and Arthur, and the three of them really keep the audience entertained. 

Zooey Deschanel never really did anything for me as Trillian though.  She's one of the actors in Hollywood that continues this trend I'm coming to despite of not playing their character so much as just playing themselves.  Her character here is the same as the one she played in Elf, which was nearly the same as the one she played inThe New Guy.   Here, even a badly attempted British accent would have made me believe more that she was Trillian and not just Zooey Deschanel playing Trillian. 

And last but not least, my other favorite character in the movie, the combination of Alan Rickman's voice and Warwick Davis in costume make Marvin the Paranoid Android come to depressed, miserable life.  He's not as I'd pictured him in the book, but like I said before, nothing's ever definitive in a Hitchiker's Guide adaptation.  But the wry humor and miserable outlook on everything is once again spot on from the book, and that's what matters most. 

One last thing I have to say about the movie is, of all the changes from the movie to the book, I'm glad they kept my favorite scene intact,  in which a pair of missles are fired at our heroes' ship, The Heart Of Gold, and one is turned into a large sperm whale thanks to the ships improbability drive, and becomes self aware.  The dialouge the whale has with itself before falling to the ground below is classic.

Final

So pretty much, if you're a fan of "Hitchhiker's Guide", and you haven't seen the movie, go check it out at least once.  It's entertaining if you're a fan and already know the story.  I managed to find more bits of entertainment out of the movie than my wife did, being already familiar with the story and knowing the intricasies that were cut out of the theatrical version.   I'm still holding out hope for a special edition DVD to be released later on with some of the treasured scenes and dialogue inserted back in, if it was ever there to be cut out in the first place. 

But I digress, if you're not a fan of the story, or just never heard of it, do yourself a favor and read the book.  You'll enjoy the movie more if you've read the book, or even if you choose never to see the movie you'll have at least read one of the finest pieces of literature ever written.  Well, till next time people, keep it reel.