DVD Review
Hitchhiker’s Guide to
the Galaxy
Director: Garth Jennings
Starring: Martin Freeman, Sam
Rockwell, Mos Def, Zooey
Deschanel, John Malkovich, voices
of Alan Rickman and Steven Fry
Details: IRL 12, NI PG, 108 mins.
Category: Sci-Fi
When planning to see the book-to film adaptation of Douglas Adams’ highly celebrated sci-fi novel The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, don’t panic! Hitchhiker, or as it’s known to its giant fan base, “h2g2,” is a brilliant collaboration of the witty, English-born roots and the jacked-up, summer-film spectacle tactics of Hollywood.
The wonderful cast of British and American actors are all up to the task of honoring Adams’ original creation, and the handful of additions made to the script are not only mostly harmless, but also mostly welcomed.
Arthur Dent (Martin Freeman) isn’t just any normal Earthman. He’s British, which means he likes his tea. He also has one of the best friends any Earthman could ask for, Ford Prefect (Mos Def ). Ford may look like any other common Earthman walking the streets of London, but he’s really a traveling alien researcher for the infamous Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, a small pda-type book that acts as a know-it-all guide to the galaxy; a guide with all the answers to all your questions, except of course those which have yet to be researched. Ford already knows of the impending doom of planet Earth, and as a favor to his only friend, saves Arthur’s life by hitching a ride on one of the many Vogon spaceships sent to demolish the planet.
This is only the beginning of the long journey for the two friends, who along with other hilarious characters race around the galaxy in a stolen spaceship searching for the question to the answer of the universe – which inadvertently happens to be 42.
As mentioned before, there are some missing elements from the original novel, as well as some new ones introduced but rest assured, most of the new material was already included by Adams himself in a second draft of the script before his unfortunate death in 2001.
“H2G2” might feel a little awkward at first to those who haven’t read Adams’ novel, but once you get a general idea of what to expect, everyone will be grabbing their towels and thrusting their thumbs up in the air.
WIN!!
To win a copy of this month’s reviewed DVD, Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy answer the following
question correctly and send in your answer. A winner will be selected at random.
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy was written by:
A John Irving
B Douglas Adams
C Stephen King
See here for details on how to enter our competition.
