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The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Review
by Doom, Nixon and the Red Fox
What do a couple of British people, a depressed robot, and some aliens that looks very closely like humans have in common? That would be The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, or the book made movie. Oddly, unlike just about every other comedy we have seen, it actually functions as, yes, a comedy! The film's content is actually funny! We even laughed with it, instead of at it! So read on about the first (and possibly last) good comedy of the year.
As with the starting of pretty much every movie, this one begins with a narrative about everyone's favorite pastime, going to the aquarium. As it turns out, the world is scheduled for demolition and the only ones who know it are the dolphins. After a great period of which we learn that the dolphins are much more intelligent than humans and witness them leave the earth. Before they go, however, they sing a great British musical number with the lyrics "So Long and Thanks for all the fish" as the majority of the song, and backed up with dolphin trick stock footage. The story then introduces our main character, Arthur Dent (heh heh, Dent), as he wakes up in his bathrobe and his house is about to be demolished by a group of construction workers. Sitting in front of a bulldozer, Dent stops them from taking down his house just as his best friend, and also, apparently, an alien, Ford Prefect [named after the car, natch] comes up to the house with a shopping cart full of beer. Distracting the workers with the liquor and his cat like reflexes, Ford tells Dent all about how the world is ending and that they need to leave the planet. Dent then tells him about Tricia (now called Trillian), the girl he met last week who is now the love of his life. But sweet, sweet love is interrupted by the Earth being destroyed for the same reason Dent's house is (oh the irony). Luckily for Dent, Ford's super ring power gets them sent onto one of the ships of the attacking aliens.
Best friends no matter what strange situation they get into.
Thus the film is afoot. Turns out the attacking aliens aren't fond of hitchhikers (what Ford & Dent are now considered), and intend to torture them in the most painful way possible, reading homemade poetry to them. Escaping torture to the vacuum of space, our characters are picked up by the rest of the cast, in the form of The President of the Galaxy, Dent's love interest, Trillian, the sunny dispositional ship, the Heart of Gold, and our favorite character, the manic depressant robot Marvin (who is brilliantly played by Alan Rickman). We learn that the President is on a quest to find the ultimate question, which has the answer of 42, from the ultimate computer. Since they already know the answer the question would really be useful. Attacked again by the alien race, the ship's random drive is activated to send them away from the fight (sissies). As the cast turns into and out of different objects, the last of which is turning every character into yarn, they arrive at a new planet where, coincidentally, the President's rival lives. With some more crazy plot and an explanation about a race who never invented the wheel, the rival character gives the group the coordinates where they find the place that has the question. In return they must give him a gun that they would find on the planet (what a fiend). As collateral they do have to cut off the president's head, but never fear! He has two of 'em. Speaking of which, the entire character of the President, Zaphod, can very easily be seen as satire relating to our current President. From the President being required to only having half a brain to Zaphod's idiot cowboy antics, it's clear who they're making fun of. The rest of the film involves bureaucracy, ultimate questions, mice and much, much more. I'd say more about the plot progression, but it'd spoil much of movie. Not every plot is resolved satisfyingly, but the scattershot approach isn't that annoying.
"Oh God, I'm so depressed."
During the course of the film the audience gets some well made animated interjections from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. It both acts as narrator and exposition, most explicitly through animated clips and asides to the audience. Drawn in the style stereotypical to the 50's, the clips help the audience understand all that is going on, even if they haven't read the book series. Helping to introduce alien races, firearms and the like, the clips also serve as a useful transitions for a film that jumps around a fair share. Stephen Fry is perfect as the ever-so-calm British voice of the Guide.
One of the highlights is the high caliber performances found in the film. Martin Freeman (aka Tim from "The Office") is perfect as the constantly bewildered Arthur Dent, giving the character humanity while still giving him a dry sense of humor. Mos Def does a fairly good job portraying Ford Prefect, Arthur's alien buddy, given the material he has to work with. Ford was never a very interesting character in the books, but he has some good lines in the movie, as well as his idea that everything can be solved by hugs or beer. Zooey Deschanel makes a very likeable (not to mention attractive) Trillian, and Sam Rockwell's Zaphod is a perfect blend of Elvis swagger and Burt Reynolds attitude. We all know how perfect Alan Rickman is for the role of Marvin.
Hitchhiker fans will be split upon the release of this film; many will be outraged by the differences the film adaptation has in comparison to the books, and even the radio plays and television show. Others will no doubt embrace it because it does indeed share the same title as the book series they love so much. It's laughable to think that there actually are HGTTG purists, especially considering that each version of it is slightly different from all the other ones, something intentionally done by the author himself. Most of the changes work well. For instance, Arthur and Trillian may not have been romantic interests before, but it works well in the film version. Like the oft used phrase found on the back of the book, if you're worried about how true it is to the source material, don't panic. It turned out well. A lot of it seems very Adams-esque, especially the Point of View Gun, even if it wasn't in the books themselves [the majority of the movie is still likely Adams' script].
Sadly, many of the jokes and gags from the book(s) were cut out of the movie, though some of them will pop up on the DVD. Even running at 2 hours, the movie seems a bit too streamlined. No doubt Disney had a hand in that. And in terms of accessibility to non-fans, Nixon and Red Fox had never read the books and they were able to understand the concepts and the humor almost instantly. Surprisingly, Hitchhiker's beat out Ice Cube for President as top grosser at the box office this past week.
If you're looking for quirky, offbeat British humor wrapped around some entertaining, imaginative science fiction, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is the movie you're looking for. If you don't want that, you're best to wait until the latest iteration of boring fake sci-fi, Revenge of the Sith, comes out.
John Malkovich was in this movie for about 5 minutes. Just thought I'd mention that.
How many drinks do I need for this to be good?: 0
Mastur-factor: 2
The Stinger: Yarn people!