CriticSociety- film reviews

Review

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Director

Garth Jennings

Year

2005

Rating

Reviewed by

José Ruiloba a.k.a. Morris

Review date

Wednesday, July 06, 2005

I really wanted to like this movie. For some reason, people running Internet sites (sometimes known as “geeks”) were eagerly anticipating it, so it was contagious and soon I was excited as well. The trailers looked funny, the premise was hilarious, and it was based on a popular book by Douglas Adams. Then it was released and met with good but not great reviews, and box office was also not great. My interest diminished, and then, after several weeks after it hit theaters I opted to give it a look. Bad choice.

Arthur Dent (Martin Freeman) is worried that his house is about to be demolished because of a highway they’re building over it. But soon his good friend Ford (Mos Def) shows up and tells him that a different problem is about to take place. As it happens, an intergalactic highway is about to be built over the Earth, so the planet is about to be demolished. Worried about a little house? Think bigger. So Ford confesses to be an extraterrestrial, the Earth is indeed vanished and soon Arthur and Ford are hitchhiking throughout the galaxy, where they are aided by the resourceful Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, a little book Ford wrote which contains everything they need to know. Soon they find themselves in the stolen ship of the Galaxy’s ruler (Sam Rockwell), along with his human girlfriend (Zooey Deschanel) and a rather bitter Marvin (voice of Alan Rickman). They’ll then help him find a way to search for the meaning of life.

The movie starts with a hilarious montage of dolphins singing to us and saying goodbye as they leave the planet. Now, this took me off-guard and put me just in the right mood for an enjoyable and fun ride. I was wrong.

Thing is, I don’t know if I’m just bitter or something, because a lot of people seemed to find this movie amusing. I thought it was perfunctory. And it had nothing to do with it mostly containing “British humor”, because I’ve enjoyed it many times in much better movies. Here, we get a lot of cheap sets, several different creatures which I didn’t find humorous at all, a premise which goes on and on and on with nowhere to go, and a cast of good performers wasted in scenes that are not funny, which is not good when the movie is supposed to be a comedy.

True, there are inspiring moments here and there, how can there not be? Marvin, especially, delivers the wittiest and funniest lines, and the choice of Rickman to voice it was dead on! I’m sure the rest of the cast is equally well-cast. Fans of the book are pleased with the movie and how it plays, so I guess I’m missing something. That said, I’m definitely not going to find that out anytime soon. The simple notion of having to sit through it again is hell.

“I think you ought to know I'm feeling very depressed.”

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