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A WILD, WHIMSICAL RIDE
HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY
Directed by Garth Jennings; written by Douglas Adams and Karey Kirkpatrick,
based on Adams’s book; cinematography by Igor Jadue-Lillo; edited by Niven
Howie; production design by Joel Collins; art direction by Alan Cassie,
Daniel May, Phil Simms, Andy Thomson, and Frank Walsh; set decoration by
Kate Beckly; costume design by Sammy Howarth and Sammy Sheldon. With: Martin
Freeman, Mos Def, Zooey Deschanel, Sam Rockwell, Stephen Fry, Alan Rickman,
Anna Chancellor, Helen Mirren, John Malkovich, and Bill Nighy. Rated PG for
thematic elements, action, and mild language. Running time: 110 minutes
Reviewed by Joel Johnson
Garth Jennings’s The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is based on the
book by the late British writer Douglas Adams. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to
the Galaxy is without a doubt the work for which Adams will be best
remembered since it has been the basis of both radio and television series
as well as this film, but he wrote nine other books as well as writing
rather extensively for television. If you are wondering whether you will
appreciate Hitchhiker’s Guide, it may be very helpful to examine how
you feel about some of the other work with which Adams was involved. Some of
you may have seen The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy TV program
that has been offered on American public television stations for years.
Since my local public television station carried it as a late-night program
just before going off the air, I had never seen more than a couple minutes
of any program. However, Adams was a contributing writer to two extremely
popular British programs that have been much more widely seen in America and
with which the movie shares a sensibility: Monty Python’s Flying Circus
and Dr. Who. If you have liked these programs, you’re probably going
to have a pretty good time at Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. That
may be all you need to know.
However, since you are still reading, I will tell you about my impressions
of the film. It is, as you might have guessed, a film that doesn’t take
itself or much of anything else too seriously. The basic premise is that one
Arthur Dent (Martin Freeman) is rescued by his space alien, next-door friend
Ford Prefect (Mos Def) from a galactic eminent domain demolition of planet
Earth making way for an intergalactic superhighway. This cleverly mimics
Arthur’s earthly concern as Arthur is staunchly defending his home against a
crew determined to run a ribbon of asphalt right over his house. What good
is your house when the entire planet is being destroyed? Soon the pair have
“hitchhiked” a ride from the space vehicle of the galactic bureaucrats who
are clearing the way for the intergalactic superhighway. We are then off and
running around the galaxy. They have companions in the form of the two-faced
President of the Galaxy Zaphod Beeblebrox (Sam Rockwell), Arthur’s one-time
flame Trillian (Zooey Deschanel), and an android cursed with GPP named
Marvin. GPP stands for Genuine People Personalities, and for Marvin, whose
voice is provided by the talented Alan Rickman, that means he is achingly
depressed. We’ll also see and hear—especially hear—a handful of other
well-known actors. Helping us make some sense of it all is the narration of
Stephen Fry.
Of course, it’s not supposed to really make sense. One alternative being
promoted for education curriculum in opposition to the theory of evolution as an
explanation for the development of life on our planet is the “intelligent
design” theory that sees a force (e.g., God) managing the creative process.
In Adams’s galaxy, there may be a force at work designing it, but you
certainly wouldn’t get carried away calling it “intelligent.” The film is
loaded with witty, whimsical, and irreverent humor, frequently skewering
humanity for acting far less clever than it thinks it is. To say the film is
intermittently funny suggests that only a small fraction of the gags work
and that would seriously underestimate the film’s comic impact. The film is
funny—and sometimes very funny—in segments that are spliced with other
segments that are less amusing. The film’s comedy works much more frequently
than it fails, but there will be a handful of comic deserts to cross.
In the tradition of Dr. Who and its own TV version, the special
effects have deliberately sought to avoid the appearance of being state of
the art. You will not sense you are watching creations of George Lucas’s
Industrial Light and Magic; there’s another movie coming out that will give
you that. Instead you will see things that appear to be cobbled together
from spare parts found in people’s garages, basements, and attics.
Despite or maybe because of this unassuming approach to visual realism, I
would have to say that I was mostly a rapt and enthusiastic viewer of The
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Jennings deserves credit for
delivering a hit in his first big-screen directing assignment. There is an
open-ended finale to this film that clearly allows him the opportunity to do
a sequel or two. Adams has coincidentally written a book bearing the same
name as their next apparent destination. I am looking forward much more to
that than I had been to the final installment of George Lucas’s Star Wars
series. Since Lucas is shutting down Star Wars, Luke Skywalker,
Chewbacca, R2D2, and C3PO may need work and might feel right at home on
a Hitchhiker’s set.
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2008 Wolf Moon Desk Calendar
We are pleased to announce that we have put together another snappy desk calendar
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5 1/2" x 5"
2008 Wolf Moon Calendar just
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