The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The book was great, but the movie just doesn't live up to its name.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is the most important book ever written. Within it holds all the knowledge of the galaxy any traveler will ever need. Many such travelers regard it as a necessary piece of equipment on any voyage. It also makes for an occasionally funny and constantly frantic movie.
This much anticipated film is the adaptation of Douglas Adams’ world famous novel. Fans of the book have been waiting a long while for this film to be made, and although the film is not terrible at all, it does fail to live up to all the hype it created.
The beginning starts off strong, with a catchy and entertaining musical number, but soon runs out of gas. The last half manages to stay together, but just barely with a few laughs and a wobbly storyline. In the end, it is a story we’ve all seen before: Boy loses girl, boy finds girl again, and, finally, boy must rescue girl from the forces of evil.
What makes this film more memorable than the usual sci-fi film is the quirkiness that’s put into it. The dry humor and almost spiritual nature to some parts of the film make it both original and intriguing. The best examples of this would be the dark and depressed robot and the shape shifting of both ship and crew after a run through hyperspace. Not all the humor can be caught however, unless you have read the books. And even then, much of it comes across better in print.
The acting is not bad. On the contrary, it’s actually very good for a science fiction film. Martin Freeman and Mos Def are a decent match for a pair of planet hopping explorers who are forced to leave Earth after it is destroyed to make way for an intergalactic space highway. They find refuge in one of the fastest ship in the galaxy and dodge aliens and humans alike in search for the answer to “the ultimate question.”
The entire movie may leave you scratching your head, wondering what you just saw, but it is something different to see, and that alone is reason enough to watch this film. Maybe it’s not good enough to spend the full ticket price on, but at least pick it up when it comes out on DVD.
Written by: Matt Balmaseda
Reviewers Rating: 6
Reader's Rating: 9.00
Reader's Votes: 1
Added: 28-Jul-2005
Talk to other readers about this story.
|
