www.thefilmfactory.co.uk/hitchhikers
Dir: Garth Jennings
Cast: Martin Freeman, Sam Rockwell, Mos Def, Zooey Deschanel
They travel through space
Earth destroyed by Vogon fleet
don't panic, it's fine
The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy has this to say about IT support: "Don't rely on them to fix the problems with your computer or you'll be waiting a very long time indeed." The Guide also has this to say about drinking alcohol: "Whilst drinking a mixture of beer, Jim Beam, red wine and Hungarian sherry on a Saturday evening might seem like a fun and clever thing to do, be warned that you will experience a planet-sized hangover the following day." If only I'd read that piece of advice before attending a sneak preview of the new Hitchhiker's movie on Sunday morning. Still, planet-sized hangover aside, I enjoyed it immensely. The story will be all-too familiar to anyone who's either read the book or seen the BBC television series, but basically it follows Arthur Dent (Freeman) as he discovers that a) the Earth is about to be destroyed to make way for an interstellar bypass, and b) his friend Ford Prefect (Def) is actually an alien. They survive by hitching a ride on a Vogon spacecraft and then end up on a ship piloted by Zaphod Beeblebrox (Rockwell) and his girlfriend Trillian (Deschanel) - who Arthur once met at a party. The movie adaptation sticks to the original story pretty well, although veers off on more than one occasion to facilitate a bit of a "character arc" for Arthur and Trillian. Despite these changes you can't fault Douglas Adams' original text and the film is consistently funny throughout. The casting is excellent, with both Freeman and Rockwell the ideal choices for their parts. Deschanel too carries off the role of Trillian perfectly and the relationship between her and Arthur works surprisingly well. Even the supporting cast and voices are superb, with particular credit going to Stephen Fry as the voice of The Guide, and Alan Rickman as Marvin the paranoid android. Director Jennings creates a very British feel to this sci-fi classic - despite some of the American cast - and his animation background serves him well in bringing The Guide to life... and is inspired when visualising Zaphod's spaceship's "Improbability Drive" (the best gag of the film in my opinion). With a script this good they really couldn't screw this one up, and I'm pleased to report that they didn't. I'm off to re-watch the old television series now...
soulmining rating ****
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