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From Amazon.co.uk
Don't panic! After twenty years stuck in development (a mere blink compared to how long it takes to find the answer to life, the universe, and everything), The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy has finally been turned into a movie. Following the radio play, TV series, commemorative towel, and books, this latest installment in the sci-fi-comedy franchise is based on the screenplay and detailed notes by Douglas Adams. For those unfamiliar with the story, everyman Arthur Dent (Martin Freeman) wakes up one morning to discover that his house is set to be demolished to make room for a bypass. Little does he know the entire planet Earth is also set to be destroyed for an interplanetary bypass by the Vogons, a hideous and bureaucratic race of aliens realized in the film by Jim Henson's Creature Shop. Whisked off the planet by his best friend, alien-in-disguise Ford Prefect (Mos Def), Dent embarks on a goofy jaunt across the galaxy accompanied by his trusty Hitchhiker's Guide, which looks like a really fancy PDA. The guide itself provides some of the funniest bits of the movie, little animated shorts that explain the ludicrous life forms and extraterrestrial phenomena our heroes encounter. Along the way Arthur meets the two-headed party animal/president of the galaxy Zaphod Beeblebrox (Sam Rockwell) and develops an unrequited crush on fellow earthling Trillian (Zooey Deschanel). The creatures and sets are inspired and answer to the sci-fi fan's primal need to see lots and lots of cool stuff. Where the story stumbles is in the telling--as books, the Hitchhiker's Guide was foremost about goofy and brilliant ideas that raised questions about our place in the universe while getting a laugh. The movie has enough trouble figuring out how to get the characters from one fantastical location to the next that Adams's funniest concepts often feel left in the dust. While the reverence the filmmakers felt toward Adams's legacy is apparent, one wonders what we could have expected had the creator of this science fiction universe lived to see it with his own eyes. --Ryan Boudinot, Amazon.com
Product Description
Sci-fi adventure based on the novel by Douglas Adams. Earthman Arthur Dent (Martin Freeman) is having a very bad day. His house is about to be bulldozed, he discovers that his best friend is an alien and to top things off, Planet Earth is about to be demolished to make way for a hyperspace bypass. Arthur's only chance of survival is to hitch a ride on a passing spacecraft. For the novice space traveller, the greatest adventure in the universe begins when the world ends. Arthur sets out on a journey in which he finds that nothing is as it seems. He learns that a towel is the most useful thing in the universe, finds the meaning of life, and discovers that everything he needs to know can be found in one book: 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
By ds
VINE™ VOICE
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy was Douglas Adams' epitaph, his best known (but not necessarily his best) work. Anyone interested in this film will probably know about the multifarious versions that have littered countless media and about the almost eternal gestation of the movie of the book of the towel.
It's not bad.
But it's not great either, which given the material, is a bit of a puzzle. And a disappointment.
Firstly, what's good about the film? Well, how it looks, for a start. The visual design is beautiful. Watchers of the rather more ramshackle original TV series will marvel at the care with which visuals and audio have been created. There are lots of loving little nods to previous incarnations of the story everywhere, including lovely little cameos by Simon Jones and the original Marvin, which is nice for a fan to watch. Clearly Stephen Fry is a good choice for the book, on so many levels. The book graphics are also vey well done and support Fry's vocals beautifully.
And, actually, the cast are mostly rather good too. Sam Rockwell did chew scenery rather playing everyone's favourite larcenous Galactic Prez but it's quite hard to play the big Z any other way. And of course, at the centre, Martin Freeman. He manages to pull off a mix of rather weary resignation and utter befuddlement beautifully.
The first time I watched this film I really didn't like Mos Def's take on ford Prefect. However, after multiple watches I'm much more impressed. For those of us used to Susan Sheridan's original Trillian in the radio series, Zooey Deschanel takes a bit of getting used to. It's less jarring if Sandra Dickinson's Trillian from the TV show was your first call.... Read more ›
It's not bad.
But it's not great either, which given the material, is a bit of a puzzle. And a disappointment.
Firstly, what's good about the film? Well, how it looks, for a start. The visual design is beautiful. Watchers of the rather more ramshackle original TV series will marvel at the care with which visuals and audio have been created. There are lots of loving little nods to previous incarnations of the story everywhere, including lovely little cameos by Simon Jones and the original Marvin, which is nice for a fan to watch. Clearly Stephen Fry is a good choice for the book, on so many levels. The book graphics are also vey well done and support Fry's vocals beautifully.
And, actually, the cast are mostly rather good too. Sam Rockwell did chew scenery rather playing everyone's favourite larcenous Galactic Prez but it's quite hard to play the big Z any other way. And of course, at the centre, Martin Freeman. He manages to pull off a mix of rather weary resignation and utter befuddlement beautifully.
The first time I watched this film I really didn't like Mos Def's take on ford Prefect. However, after multiple watches I'm much more impressed. For those of us used to Susan Sheridan's original Trillian in the radio series, Zooey Deschanel takes a bit of getting used to. It's less jarring if Sandra Dickinson's Trillian from the TV show was your first call.... Read more ›
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
To be honest, I quite liked this daft film, although I was a tad disappointed, because it bore so little resemblance to either the original books or the BBC version. Be that as it may, to one whom has not yet discovered the story of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in any of its earlier forms, this film does stand up on its own...if a little shakily.
Trillian is a rather more believable character than the one played by Sandra Dickinson in the tv series, and I do feel the acting standard in this is a good deal higher, as are, naturally, the production values.
Although the story this film tells is a hundred miles away from the original, it does tell a darn good tale all of its own, and gives us a decisive, deliberate, rather Hollywood-ish good ending which some people may well prefer.
Overall? Not bad. Not bad at all.
Trillian is a rather more believable character than the one played by Sandra Dickinson in the tv series, and I do feel the acting standard in this is a good deal higher, as are, naturally, the production values.
Although the story this film tells is a hundred miles away from the original, it does tell a darn good tale all of its own, and gives us a decisive, deliberate, rather Hollywood-ish good ending which some people may well prefer.
Overall? Not bad. Not bad at all.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
The film of the books of the stage show of the TV series of the radio show of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is one of those spin-offs that isn't as horribly disappointing as you expect it to be without actually ever being much good at all. The changes to Douglas Adams' admittedly constantly evolving and mutating storyline are not so much the problem, although the absence of Restaurant at the End of the Universe, the B-Ark and, most importantly, the ultimate question to the ultimate answer to Life, the Universe and Everything is keenly felt. Even the fact that the script often loses the punchlines to the jokes in its efforts to bring the plot down to a manageable length doesn't deliver the coup de grace. Rather it's the casting that's such a problem, with Martin Freeman a particularly inadequate Arthur Dent (yes, Dent is an inadequate character, but that's no reason to cast an inadequate actor who seems even more lost on the big screen than the small), Mos Def a mumbling and uncharismatic Ford Prefect (thankfully the DVD comes with subtitles) who seems oblivious to the notion of comic timing, Sam Rockwell gives another of his trying-too-hard-to-be-funny performances as Zephod Beeblebrox and Bill Nighy is comprehensively underwhelming as Slartibartfast. Even the seemingly ideal casting of Alan Rickman as the voice of Marvin the Paranoid Android falls flat, but then, ironically for something that started its life on radio, none of the vocal delivery in the film is particularly good.... Read more ›
15 of 17 people found the following review helpful
By Moe
Format:DVD
A bunch of us went to see this in the cinema the moment it came out; all of us massive Hitchiker's fans with (admittedly) huge expectations. It was a tragic experience. Despite the `thrill' of seeing all my favourite characters re-imagined in a big-budget movie, l was quite simply bored by the end and just wanted it to finish.
It's hard to describe exactly what is wrong with it. Certainly they've removed many of the best jokes, or at least shortened them to the point the humour is lost. All the little clever subtexts and subtleties are gone. The (somewhat random) lurching storyline is gone too, replaced (apparently for no good reason) with a simplified version which can be summed up by "Earth blown up, but it's OK `cos they've made another one" with a new, seemingly irrelevant, section in the middle.
Martin Freeman's Arthur is OK but lacks the bewildered naivety that was so crucial to the original. Zaphod is less Captain Jack Sparrow and more Jar Jar Binks; the `disappearing' second head it a HUGE copout - the one effect they could've pulled off with CGI and they didn't bother. Alan Rickman should've made a great Marvin, but it didn't work - instead of the morose dark wit and resigned acceptance, the new Marvin just comes across as slightly irritated.
Listen to the radio series, and you'll be laughing constantly all the way through. Listen to it again, and you'll be laughing constantly at all the jokes you didn't get the first time. When I bought it on CD in my thirties, I discovered a whole new level of humour that I didn't notice in my teens. The film version yielded approximately one laugh per 20 minutes.... Read more ›
It's hard to describe exactly what is wrong with it. Certainly they've removed many of the best jokes, or at least shortened them to the point the humour is lost. All the little clever subtexts and subtleties are gone. The (somewhat random) lurching storyline is gone too, replaced (apparently for no good reason) with a simplified version which can be summed up by "Earth blown up, but it's OK `cos they've made another one" with a new, seemingly irrelevant, section in the middle.
Martin Freeman's Arthur is OK but lacks the bewildered naivety that was so crucial to the original. Zaphod is less Captain Jack Sparrow and more Jar Jar Binks; the `disappearing' second head it a HUGE copout - the one effect they could've pulled off with CGI and they didn't bother. Alan Rickman should've made a great Marvin, but it didn't work - instead of the morose dark wit and resigned acceptance, the new Marvin just comes across as slightly irritated.
Listen to the radio series, and you'll be laughing constantly all the way through. Listen to it again, and you'll be laughing constantly at all the jokes you didn't get the first time. When I bought it on CD in my thirties, I discovered a whole new level of humour that I didn't notice in my teens. The film version yielded approximately one laugh per 20 minutes.... Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Know Thy Towel!
Bought this double disc set for the documentary on the extra disc and I have found it excellent. There are plenty of excellent glimpses into the production of this adaptation of... Read more
Published 13 days ago by Gerald
5.0 out of 5 stars
thank you
very good item, i am very happy with it. It is a great movie and it is a very beautiful case.
Published 17 days ago by João Brites Pereira
2.0 out of 5 stars
An insult.
Firstly, I know Douglas Adams was involved in the development of the script. So out of respect to the great man, I'll be as nice as I can. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Pål Tapio
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Cute Film
This is a very cute film. I like the Arthur and Martin inside.
However, if you wang to bay the DVD, make sure you know the story first.
However, if you wang to bay the DVD, make sure you know the story first.
Published 1 month ago by YZLV
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great film
I really like this film. Blu-Ray is good quality. Some inside cover art would be nice, rather than just white.
Published 1 month ago by NickB
2.0 out of 5 stars
Lost in translation
If you have seen the BBC TV series, then you will probably have an intense dislike for this.
In condensing this to a movie length, practically all the humour of Douglas... Read more
In condensing this to a movie length, practically all the humour of Douglas... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Moonzero2
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant. Just Brilliant. Oh & thanks for all the fish.
I love Douglas Adams' work at the best of times but when you bring together a cast that can act, a director that can envision the creation of a genius then you get this. Read more
Published 2 months ago by ATC Brian
5.0 out of 5 stars
A*****
Such fun A*****. I remember hearing this the first time round on the radio so seeing the film is great.
Published 3 months ago by Sonya
5.0 out of 5 stars
Superior!
s i m p l y d o e s n ' t g e t a n y b e t t e r !
Published 4 months ago by Christian Edlmayer
5.0 out of 5 stars
top film
may be years old but this film never gets old, totally side spliting funny, a must if your feeling blue
Published 5 months ago by misslisa
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