That’s what I love about Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy; it’s
so delightfully British. The series is on my list of books to read. Many
of my friends have informed me that I need to read Douglas Adams’
masterpiece, and I suspect they’re right. At least the movie gave me a
taste of what to expect. Like many adaptations, I get the sense that
this was not entirely successful in its attempt to do justice to the
book. But at times, I suspect that the film came pretty close.
When a movie begins with the obliteration of Earth, that’s usually not a
good sign – though singing dolphins help to make up for this atrocity.
In any case, it’s clear Our Hero, British everyman Arthur Dent (Martin
Freeman), isn’t having a very good day. First a crew shows up to knock
his house down to make way for a highway, then hundreds of alien ships
show up and incinerate his planet to make way for the galactic version
of the same thing. But Arthur does have a bit of luck on his side, in
the form of Ford Prefect (Mos Def), his upbeat friend who just happens
to be an alien aware of Earth’s imminent destruction. Once Ford whisks
them off the doomed planet, the real adventure begins.
They
soon find themselves the traveling companions of Zaphod Beeblebrox (Sam
Rockwell), the egotistical, two-headed Intergalactic president, and his
girlfriend, Trillian (Zooey Deschanel), with whom Arthur is not so
secretly smitten. I must admit that while I found Arthur endearing and
Ford engaging, Trillian was rather annoying to me and Zaphod was just
plain obnoxious. I think I would have much preferred the movie without
him. But as unsatisfactory as those two characters were, their portly
robot shipmate Marvin made up for it. Brilliantly voiced by Alan
Rickman, who seems to have a knack for pulling off mournful characters
and managed, in my opinion, to make Snape the most intriguing character
in the Harry Potter films, this droid possesses all the cheer of Eeyore
and never minds letting everyone within earshot know how miserable he
is. He was undoubtedly my favorite character in the film, unless one
counts a certain instructional manual as a character…
The
titular guide was consistently the source of greatest amusement for me.
Its witty observations and recollections struck me as so deliciously
absurd, I wished it would have appeared even more often than it did.
Voiced by Stephen Fry, it also provides the narration for the film,
which is excellent and a bit reminiscent of Jude Law in Series of Unfortunate Events,
though I think Fry had more opportunity to make the most of his
potential for amusement. Little details of the film also provide great
mirth, such as the tendency of the hideous Vogons to become so enmeshed
in paperwork that they never accomplish anything, or their utilization
of poetry as a torture tool. I’m also a fan of the rather daffy
Slartibartfast (Bill Nighy), the sullen-looking fellow who shows Arthur
the factory where planets are created, and I think the concept of the
point-of-view gun is brilliant. Wouldn’t it come in handy to just zap
someone with the result that they would instantly understand your point
of view? I want one!
Basically, as a comedy, Hitchhiker’s Guide
succeeds, though there are lines that fall flat and there were several
elements of the film that still didn’t really make sense to my by the
end. I don’t think the comedic aspect translated as well as it could
have, but it still made for pretty funny viewing. The love story, on the
other hand, failed to move me at all. I could have done without it
altogether. While Arthur was very loveable, Trillian just didn’t seem
his type to me, and I didn’t find any chemistry between them. So go see
the movie for a laugh, and keep an ear out especially for Marvin and the
Guide. I don’t know that it’s everything Douglas Adams would have
wanted it to be, but I doubt he’s rolling over in his grave.
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