Fair warning: I've never read any of Douglas Adams's "Hitchhiker" books, or witnessed the television or radio shows. I went into the showing completely ignorant of any rules or expectations that fans of one of the most popular sci-fi novels of all time would come to demand from a big-screen adaptation of the legendary book.
I feel that while that put me at a loss for appreciating the in-jokes the way fans will, it also left me with a better footing to give an unbiased critique. So what did I think of this long-awaited comedy? Meh, it was okay.
Arthur Dent (Martin Freeman) is in the middle of a mid-life crisis. Along with having a non-existent love life, his home is scheduled for demolition so that a new highway can be built where it stands. To make matters worse, he finds out his friend Ford Prefect (Mos Def) is actually an alien who was on Earth doing research, and that the planet has been scheduled for destruction by alien beings. Ford whisks him off Earth just as it is destroyed.
Circumstances bring the pair into the company of Zaphod Beeblebrox (Sam Rockwell) an egomaniac who happens to be President of the Galaxy, and Trisha "Trillion" McMillion (Zooey Deschanel), an Earth woman who Arthur coincidently blew his shot at courting due to Zaphod, who was on Earth by mistake. Also on board is the paranoid robot Marvin (voiced of Alan Rickman) who always looks on the dark side of life. The three are on the run from authorities because Zaphod stole the experimental spaceship Heart of Gold.
The group attempts to flee the Vogons, a race of slow-minded intergalactic bureaucrats, while Zaphod plots to take the ship to a near-mythical planet that's home to an ancient supercomputer. The group begins a strange odyssey that involves bad Vogon poetry, the meaning behind different social activities and discovering why 42 is the answer to the most important question in the universe.
"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" has all the right elements in place for a cult science fiction film. There's the goofy premise, strange worlds and weird gadgets mixed with wacky bits of social commentary. But the movie never gels the right way.
Director Garth Jennings keeps the movie going along at a nice pace, but that's part of the problem. Everything happens so quickly that we hardly have time for the characters to show much individual distinction. Special effects and make-up are quite good, especially the Vogons, who are tangible puppets from Jim Henson's Workshop and thankfully not some CGI abomination. Everything looks good.
But the movie can't sustain itself. It feels like a lot was lost in the translation to big screen. Either that, or Adams originally wrote the book concerned more with the situations then with the characters. Whatever the case, the movie plays like a series of mildly clever skits of people cruising around the universe. Sometimes it works, but most of the time it seems like the kind of screenplay a group off middle schoolers would have come up with after watching too much "Monty Python."
Numerous plot threads are created and then abandoned with little rhyme or reason, seemingly introduced to eat up screen time with ill regard for bringing the story to any logical conclusion. The whole production runs out of steam in the third act, despite a fun appearance by Bill Nighy as a contractor who builds planets. The finale is anti-climatic, halting the story, not resolving it.
Freeman is nicely restrained as Arthur, and makes a likable enough protagonist. Def is perhaps the best performer on display here, making Ford a believable enough character in these surroundings. Deschanel has little to do as Trillion but play a cliché love interest for Arthur. Rockwell on the other hand manages to be simply annoying in every scene he's in, but given his character that may have been the point. Rickman is the only really funny character here, making Marvin the robot's presence all the more necessary to stave off tedium.
So, is this the story that allegedly is so interesting that it's made the novel a worldwide bestseller? Perhaps it's just a funnier tale to read then it is to watch, otherwise the screenplay, cowritten by the late Adams, missed the mark completely. It's fitting that "Galaxy Quest" stars Rockwell and Rickman were reunited here, because at times "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" feels more like an unofficial sequel to that movie than an adaptation of a highly famous satirical adventure story. As it is, the movie is nice bit of diversion, but hardly worth all the hype surrounding it.
Six out of ten stars. I doubt even fans of Douglas Adams could be overly enthused by this lackluster adaptation of what I assume is a genuinely fun novel to read.
I feel that while that put me at a loss for appreciating the in-jokes the way fans will, it also left me with a better footing to give an unbiased critique. So what did I think of this long-awaited comedy? Meh, it was okay.
Arthur Dent (Martin Freeman) is in the middle of a mid-life crisis. Along with having a non-existent love life, his home is scheduled for demolition so that a new highway can be built where it stands. To make matters worse, he finds out his friend Ford Prefect (Mos Def) is actually an alien who was on Earth doing research, and that the planet has been scheduled for destruction by alien beings. Ford whisks him off Earth just as it is destroyed.
Circumstances bring the pair into the company of Zaphod Beeblebrox (Sam Rockwell) an egomaniac who happens to be President of the Galaxy, and Trisha "Trillion" McMillion (Zooey Deschanel), an Earth woman who Arthur coincidently blew his shot at courting due to Zaphod, who was on Earth by mistake. Also on board is the paranoid robot Marvin (voiced of Alan Rickman) who always looks on the dark side of life. The three are on the run from authorities because Zaphod stole the experimental spaceship Heart of Gold.
The group attempts to flee the Vogons, a race of slow-minded intergalactic bureaucrats, while Zaphod plots to take the ship to a near-mythical planet that's home to an ancient supercomputer. The group begins a strange odyssey that involves bad Vogon poetry, the meaning behind different social activities and discovering why 42 is the answer to the most important question in the universe.
"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" has all the right elements in place for a cult science fiction film. There's the goofy premise, strange worlds and weird gadgets mixed with wacky bits of social commentary. But the movie never gels the right way.
Director Garth Jennings keeps the movie going along at a nice pace, but that's part of the problem. Everything happens so quickly that we hardly have time for the characters to show much individual distinction. Special effects and make-up are quite good, especially the Vogons, who are tangible puppets from Jim Henson's Workshop and thankfully not some CGI abomination. Everything looks good.
But the movie can't sustain itself. It feels like a lot was lost in the translation to big screen. Either that, or Adams originally wrote the book concerned more with the situations then with the characters. Whatever the case, the movie plays like a series of mildly clever skits of people cruising around the universe. Sometimes it works, but most of the time it seems like the kind of screenplay a group off middle schoolers would have come up with after watching too much "Monty Python."
Numerous plot threads are created and then abandoned with little rhyme or reason, seemingly introduced to eat up screen time with ill regard for bringing the story to any logical conclusion. The whole production runs out of steam in the third act, despite a fun appearance by Bill Nighy as a contractor who builds planets. The finale is anti-climatic, halting the story, not resolving it.
Freeman is nicely restrained as Arthur, and makes a likable enough protagonist. Def is perhaps the best performer on display here, making Ford a believable enough character in these surroundings. Deschanel has little to do as Trillion but play a cliché love interest for Arthur. Rockwell on the other hand manages to be simply annoying in every scene he's in, but given his character that may have been the point. Rickman is the only really funny character here, making Marvin the robot's presence all the more necessary to stave off tedium.
So, is this the story that allegedly is so interesting that it's made the novel a worldwide bestseller? Perhaps it's just a funnier tale to read then it is to watch, otherwise the screenplay, cowritten by the late Adams, missed the mark completely. It's fitting that "Galaxy Quest" stars Rockwell and Rickman were reunited here, because at times "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" feels more like an unofficial sequel to that movie than an adaptation of a highly famous satirical adventure story. As it is, the movie is nice bit of diversion, but hardly worth all the hype surrounding it.
Six out of ten stars. I doubt even fans of Douglas Adams could be overly enthused by this lackluster adaptation of what I assume is a genuinely fun novel to read.