The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005)
"The plot stays steady as a rock and the acting keeps washing up and down..."

Given I've been a fan of Douglas Adams and his assorted creations since I was a teenager, it's hard to be thoroughly objective about the long-awaited film of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (which, to save my fingers, will henceforth be referred to as THHGTTG). I have the original radio series on tape, signed copies of the books, the TV series on video... I even have a towel that I had signed by Douglas Adams when I met him at a book fair.

As such, it's probably true to say I know a lot about THHGTTG, and I know there's no definitive version. Each time it's been transferred to another medium it's been changed to a greater or lesser extent by Adams himself. The original radio series was basically made up as he went along, which he refined for the book, then the TV series, then the computer game, the record... Aside from certain key characters and events, the story has gone in totally different directions shortly after the opening destruction of Earth. Because of this, no one could complain that the film doesn't adhere to the "original" story as the author never has either.

The film basically follows the plot of TV series, but adds sections in the middle of the film regarding Zaphod's opponent in his election to be President of the Galaxy (a creepy performance by John Malkovich) and Trillian's capture by the Vogons and peril on the planet Vogsphere. The former was interesting, but didn't seem to add to the plot much and the latter was mostly a further examination of the Universe's most beauracratic beings.

Plotwise, the film was fairly coherent (something the THHGTTG has always been weak on) but it seemed that to help drive the plot forwards a lot of very funny and clever banter from the older versions has been jetisoned. Some of this must have been due to no longer being very pertinent (such as the comments about mice and "women standing on chairs screaming in early sixties sitcoms") or downright out-dated (Ford and the Barman's exchange about buying six pints with a fiver and keeping the change - something remarkable both in 1979 and 2005, but for somewhat different reasons). Others though I couldn't help but miss, and even those original lines that weren't removed, the delivery by Arthur and Ford seemed to lack crisp comic timing.

This leads me to another minor gripe. The character portrayals of some of the characters was a bit half-hearted I felt. Arthur Dent is an intelligent but un-worldly man who spends most of his time struggling to keep abreast of the things that are happening to him. His needs (usually tea and a bit of a sit-down) aren't complicated, but are never met nonetheless. Ford is competitive and slightly jealous of his half-cousin Zaphod, and always attempting to seem more knowledgable and "connected" than he really is. Sadly neither of these characters was adequately fleshed out by Martin Freeman (as Arthur) or Mos Def (as Ford). Sam Rockwell's Zaphod was far better though, but playing slightly crazy narcissists seems to be a talent he excels at. Trillian, played by the inexplicably American and improbably named Zooey Deschanel (hearing her talk about Galactic Sector Zee-Zee-9 was rather irritating), was also good, and in this incarnation of the story her character was given a lot more to do than in any of the previous versions (definitely an improvement). Rounding out, both metaphorically and literally, the main cast is Marvin the Paranoid Android, physically played by the diminuitive Warwick Davis and voiced by the suitably depressed-sounding Alan Rickman. I didn't like the design they'd chosen for Marvin, seeing that they took his lines about having "a brain the size of a planet" on face value, but it was still better than the TV series version (which has a cameo appearance on the planet Vogsphere).

Which leads me on to the design and effects. Here is one area when the film really shines, and makes the TV series look rather shabby. From the spectacular Magrathean shop-floor where planets are built to the wonderfully lugubrious Vogons, the physical and visual effects are fantastic. I noticed in the credits that the creature effects were the handiwork of the Jim Henson Creature Workshop and it was gratifying that a real-work approach was taken for them rather than a computer generated Jar-Jar-alike. With the exception of Golem*, there really is no substitute for having something physical on set, rather than adding something later. Most of the time the animation simply isn't as good as a real model/puppet would give and it usually seems to be floating over the top of the on-set action with no eyeline or interactivity with the real actors. Yes, George, we're all looking at you.

Overall the film was entertaining and sporadically amusing, but not terribly laugh-out-loud funny. Although the endearing and strangely joyous crabs which appear a couple of times through the film are almost worth the admission price alone.

Score 6.5/10

* - I'm aware that both Golem and Jar-Jar had actors on set for the cast to interact with. Jar-Jar was still rubbish and CG characters are a very hit and miss affair. Mostly miss.

© Barny Russell 2005