Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy Review
Director: Garth Jennings
Principle Cast: Martin Freeman, Sam Rockwell, Mos Def
Hello Mr Jennings, we’re looking for a director for The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – you interested? Yeah, sure sounds like a blast. Have you ever directed a major feature film before? Not exactly, I did a Blur video 5 years ago though. Close enough, welcome on board. This conversation actually happened… or something like it anyway. If that sounds improbable as it is, consider that the fate of lucrative 3 sequels in this cult trilogy* also rested on this whim-like decision and you’d think producer Gary Barber was off his lid. A walloping amount of faith he must have had then in this young director who would probably struggle to get a fortnight’s work experience in TV3 over the summer. But Gary knew a lot more about his Garth’s talents than we do. Or he was drunk at the time of hiring.
The first in the series introduces us to Arthur Dent, a regular joe who likes his tea and lives in Ilford. We meet him eleven minutes before earth is to be destroyed by Vogon construction workers who need to make way for a hyperspace bypass. Luckily for Arthur his best friend Ford Prefect (Mos Def) actually turns out to be a travel writer for the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and the pair thumb a lift off his home planet seconds before annihilation. Barely surviving death by poetry they are rescued by the amnesiac President of the Galaxy, Zaphod Beeblebrox, his depressed android Marvin (voiced by Alan Rickman), and this girl Arthur had met once at a party and kind of fancied. An adventure was likely to follow.
For those unfamiliar with the wry humour of Douglas Adams, think Red Dwarf written by the lovechild of Stephens Fry and Hawkings. But recreating the ramblings of the late author has been tried before. Many will remember the BBC mini-series of the same name and laugh, but for all the wrong reasons. Jennings gets it just right though: with the screenplay mostly completed by Adams himself before he croaked, verbose narration by Stephen Fry and quirky animation to help the audience visualise along, the character and mood of the book is well preserved (if not all the content). The special effects are extremely impressive and stylistic, and even though there’s a lot of CGI, it mostly adds rather than takes away from the experience.
We’ll be brief with the criticism because THGTTG is a truly lovable film. Firstly, there’s not a lot put in to the characters by the cast–they’re all just the way they should be (Freeman could have tried a bit harder not to be Tim from the Office). The only real exception to this is Sam Rockwell who is cheesy and flamboyant in good measures as Beeblebrox and adds needed oomph . Secondly, and it’s not really a criticism , the film sways from the original plot a good bit and if you are one of the many devotees to the book, you’ll annoy everyone by pointing out differences: so don’t. Even then, it’s difficult to imagine anyone not having a really good time at this, which I’m sure would probably really cheer up Marvin no end.
* Yes, there are four books in the ‘trilogy’