“The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” is like a long, crazy dream
you had one night after eating too much pizza too close to bedtime.
Objects and people suddenly turn into other objects or people, space
hitchhikers are strongly encouraged to carry a bath towel with them at
all times, and the earth has just blown up.
Somehow, though, after a few minutes (maybe 30) into the movie, you
start to follow this strange odyssey through space. You begin to
understand why people morph into couches. You learn that the main
character, Englishman Arthur Dent, has been rescued from the
destruction of earth by his alien friend, and is now destined to
meander about the universe, hitching from spaceship to spaceship.
I’m not sure you ever comprehend the bath towel thing, but you do
begin to accept that, while floating along in the Milky Way, pretty
much anything can happen. And it does.
Obviously, “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” is a science
fiction movie. It’s not just any old sci-fi, though. It’s based on the
hit novel of the same name by Douglas Adams. And like the book, the
film is also humorous.
It’s just a spacey kind of humor, a brand of wit that’s not always
easy to follow on the big screen. I’m not sure “The Hitchhiker’s Guide
to the Galaxy” has much of a plot; to me, it felt more like something
that was just entertaining to look at.
And the characters you get to look at are extraordinary. Relying on
the design and puppetry expertise of the Jim Henson company, “The
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” uses “real” monsters and figures
rather than computer-generated creatures – something that’s wonderfully
refreshing in today’s world of overly abundant computer-animated
animals.
The actors get to react to a genuine eight-feet-tall ugly beast
standing in front of them rather than a green ball on a stick that
serves as a placeholder for the computer monster to be added later.
This may improve the acting, but the stars of this film were already
terrific.
Though the story was too random and strange to really be drawn in,
actors such as Martin Freeman, Mos Def and Zooey Deschanel did their
best to be engaging.
I was glad this odd journey only lasted 109 minutes. A second more,
and I may’ve been driven crazy. “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”
is worth watching, though, if you’re a fan of the book or just want to
see some neat costumes and puppets. You’ll be amazed that there is
someone out there that could create such intricate characters,
haphazard plot, and crazy circumstances while they were wide awake.
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