PLOT: A mild-mannered Englishman discovers that his best friend is an alien -- just in time to escape the destruction of the earth and have big adventures in outer space.
A lot of the people who worked on this film version of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy like to refer to the movie as the "Un-Star Wars."
That makes sense.
The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, a 1970s cultural phenom, was a radio show, a book and a television series and is now, finally, a movie. The late Douglas Adams worked almost 20 years to see his absurdist creation turned into a film. This film, as purists will want to know, is based on a screenplay Adams wrote before he died (at 49) in 2001.
The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy is partly narrated (the voice is Stephen Fry) and begins with a dolphin song and dance routine.
Maybe you had to be there.
The story concerns one Arthur Dent (Martin Freeman, The Office), an Englishman who is about to discover that his best friend Ford Prefect (Mos Def) is actually an alien. This is a good thing to know, as it happens, because the world is about to end. And more's the pity, because Arthur has just met a girl (Zooey Deschanel) he quite likes.
Once Arthur and Ford have left planet earth, their adventures begin. They encounter Vogons, those large and bureaucratic beings, the heart of gold spaceship, and a fairly depressed robot known as Marvin the Paranoid Android (voiced by Alan Rickman).
And then there's Zaphod Beeblebrox (Sam Rockman), potentially idiotic President of the Galaxy, a two-headed, three-armed surfer dude. And -- lo and behold! -- here's the very earth girl poor Arthur was attracted to, Trillian.
There are gadgets, white mice, a computer (voiced by Helen Mirren) hoping to find the answer to life, the universe and everything and even John Malkovich, playing a legless guru named Humma Kavula. It's pretty crazy.
Is it authentic? Is it the real Hitchhiker's Guide, or merely the mock? Oh, get a grip. The film has lots of inside jokes and nods and hints for the fanatic, including cameos from various members of Doug Adams' own family and a brief appearance from original radio show cast member Simon Jones (and in 3D! Bring your own funny glasses!) as well.
The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy was created in different times, humour-wise, and some of the laughs in the movie seem dated. Some of the best lines are tossed away by the narrator faster than you can hear them, too. And the pace sometimes lags. Still, there's a lot to like in there, and an overall good-natured spirit to the proceedings.
So don't panic. And thanks for all the fish.
"The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy" opens April 29, 2005 and is rated PG. Adventure, Comedy, Sci-Fi. Directed by Garth Jennings. Written by Douglas Adams. Starring John Malkovich, Mos Def, Zooey Deschanel, Warwick Davis, Martin Freeman, Stephen Fry, Thomas Lennon, Helen Mirren, Bill Nighy, Alan Rickman, Sam Rockwell.
