Overall Rating
 Awesome: 6.59%
Worth A Look: 33.52%
Average: 25.82%
Pretty Bad: 12.64%
Total Crap: 21.43%
13 reviews, 104 user ratings
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| Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The |
by U.J. Lessing
"I think you ought to know that I’m feeling very depressed."
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Douglas Adams, in his book “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” describes a poorly designed machine that produces a beverage that is almost but not entirely unlike tea. This description could be transferred easily to Touchstone Pictures, because they have created a movie that almost but not entirely disregards Douglas Adams’ brilliant humor.The film starts out beautifully with Stephen Fry’s crisp voice reciting Douglas Adams’ story about how the dolphins, the second smartest creature on earth (humans aren’t the first), tried to warn people about the destruction of the earth and then fled leaving the message “So long, and thanks for all the fish.” Fry’s reading, blended with superimposed shots of dolphins’ flips and twirls is the perfect way to begin.
And then comes the plot… If you are a fan you know the premise by heart, and have experienced it through multiple media: book, radio-comedy, television, computer text adventure game, and perhaps even audio book.
Arthur Dent (Martin Freeman) wakes up one morning slightly hung-over, only to discover his small house is about to be torn down to make room for a highway. His best friend Ford (Mos Def) shows up and distracts him from his impending homelessness by informing him that the world is about to end. It turns out that Ford is an alien writer doing research on Earth for a book called, “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” and is privy to the knowledge that intergalactic bureaucrats have targeted the earth for demolition.
Together, they beam off the earth seconds before it’s demise, hook up with a two-headed, schizoid gigolo alien named Zaphod Beeblebrox (Sam Rockwell) and fellow earthling survivor Trillian (Zooey Deschanel), and embark on many adventures that revolve around the meaning of life, the universe and everything.
It is fun to see a big, Hollywood version of all the clever elements Douglas Adams so skillfully created. The Babel Fish, Marvin: the clinically depressed robot (voiced by Alan Rickman), the Heart of Gold, the Infinite Improbability Drive, the importance of towels, and the number 42 all elicit smiles.
But then about a quarter of the way through the movie, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy begins to feel flashy and empty.
Not since The Fifth Element has a science-fiction film been so busy. The movie races from one frenetic scene to the next, and while many wonderful moments are kept intact, character interactions and relationships have been jettisoned in favor of wild gesticulations, frantic emoting and a heap of commotion.
Occasionally, the film slows to attempt to develop a romance between Arthur and Trillian with painfully awkward results.
The realization sets in that Ford and Zaphod, two wonderfully fun characters have been reduced to physical reactions and pratfalls. There simply isn’t time for their characters to be fleshed out.
First-time director Garth Jennings creates a few memorable scenes. The presentation of the destruction of the earth is clever, and scenes shared by Arthur and the planet designer, Slartibartfast are even touching. (Bill Nighy, as Slartibartfast, gives the only restrained and memorable performance in the film.)
Sadly, the vigorous roar of the rest of the film quickly overwhelms these moments, and the movie crumbles quickly. Of all the adaptations of Douglas Adams’ seminal work, this is by far the worst, and the fact that it is the first posthumous adaptation makes it that much more painful.But take heart! Despite being a fragmented mess, there is enough of Adams’ voice present to motivate fans to search their attics for their dog-eared copies of the books, and hopefully this misguided attempt will also dispatch a whole new batch of readers into libraries and bookstores everywhere. As for me, I’m off to buy a new towel.
link directly to this review at http://www.efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=11932&reviewer=396
originally posted: 04/29/05 13:57:31
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USA
29-Apr-2005 (PG-13)
DVD: 13-Sep-2005
UK
N/A
Australia
28-Apr-2005
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