 Movie
Reviews
with Evelyn Gough
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (PG)
Directed by Garth Jennings
 Ford Prefect and Arthur Dent present a captive audience for some Vogon poetry - but at least they know where their towels are!
The long (and boy, are we talking long!) awaited film version of Douglas Adams' cult classic The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy has finally made it to the big screen and I don't know about you but this had me excited. For the first time in ages I was really looking forward to a movie. Apparently I'm not the only person who remembers with great fondness the BBC television series from the late seventies. Arthur, Ford Prefect, Zaphod Beeblebrox, Marvin the clinically depressed robot... oh what happy memories! It was going to be so great seeing them all again, this time up on the big screen.
The film version stars Martin Freeman (from the TV series The Office) as Arthur Dent, your typically dozy Londoner. But this is far from your typical London day. Not only is Arthur's house about to be demolished to make way for a freeway, the whole Earth is about to be blown up to make way for an intergalactic expressway. Arthur and his best friend Ford Prefect (Mos Def), who it turns out is from the planet Betelgeuse, have exactly 12 minutes to hitch a ride on a Vogon spaceship before they, along with the planet, are blown to smithereens.
Luckily for our two hitchhikers, Ford just happens to have in his possession the ultimate "must have" for all intergalactic travellers - The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. Now they just have to work out how to get off the Vogon spaceship before they are discovered because if there's one thing Vogon's hate, it's hitchhikers.
Fans of the hit radio series, book and TV series will recognise the many characters Ford and Arthur meet on their travels. Zaphod Beeblebrox (Sam Rockwell), Slartibartfarst (Bill Nighy), Trillian (Zooey Deschanel) and of course Marvin the robot (Warwick Davis and the voice of Alan Rickman). There's also a brand new character created especially for the movie: religious cult leader Humma Kavula played by John Malkovich.
If you love classic British humour then The Hitchhikers Guide will be just your cup of tea. And if you're a fan of the book and TV series, don't panic, you'll be pleased to know the film captures the essence of them both. Whether you think it's as good is another matter. In my opinion Douglas Adams' creation is so imaginative and chock full of mind bending concepts it's impossible to condense it all into a brief time capsule of just two hours. There's just not enough time to do it justice. And I miss the original Marvin!
Yes, I'm sorry to say I was a little disappointed in the movie version but only because I loved the television series so much. I would still highly recommend it as it's a lot of fun and the production values are brilliant.
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