Movie Review: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

With a day off to enjoy myself, I checked the papers to see what was playing at the local movies. I have been living under a rock for the past couple weeks so I didn’t know what was out there. Wonderland, it turned out, was playing The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. I remembered many years ago when my dad was talking about it. Although I had never seen the movie nor read the book, I knew that the answer is 42. The movie was certainly up my alley but not with any of my friends. Sci-fi is just not for them, although this wasn’t strictly sci-fi. They would have appreciated the comedy definitely. I had resigned myself to just catching it when it got to video until my sister came in from track. Half-heartedly I asked her if she wanted to go see it. What do you know? She went for it. Thirty minutes later, we were on our way.

The very basic idea of the story is that Earth is destroyed by intergalactic aliens that want to put in a bypass through our system. Arthur Dent, a survivor, is saved by his friend who turns out to be an alien. They then hook up with some others and they go looking for the ultimate question. Sorta the meaning of life question.

Kris and I enjoyed the movie, probably more than most of the audience. Maybe it was because are more in tune with British humor? I really didn’t see the difference. But we were the ones who were always laughing out loud. Well, I say that with some reservation. It’s not a laugh out loud film just funny. One of the things that I was worried about was the special effects that were shown on the previews of this movie. I thought that this was another movie on the same level as Episodes I & II of Star Wars. All that FX can really ruin a good movie. Delightfully, that was not the case here. At no point is the story overwhelmed by it. In fact, it was appreciated as Dent went on the factory floor.

The casting was excellent. All of them were somehow familiar. I was thinking, “I swear I’ve seen them somewhere.” Alan Rickman is a perfect fit for Martin, the manic-depressive robot and was immediately recognizable as well as Sam Rockwell who you will either like or find incredibly annoying.

The story had good prospects. Unfortunately, because of time restraints (the movie is just over an hour and a half), it wasn’t fully developed. The characters were sorely under developed especially Dent’s friend. It seems that all we know of him was where he was from and that he was apparently “stranded” on Earth for a while. It just felt that the end was too quick and cleaned up a little too nicely. You just get the feeling that this movie should have been a lot longer or that a series would have been more appropriate. But hey, there are those options available.

Still, I think it’s worth your money to go see it. I’m considering purchasing the DVD when it comes out. It’ll be one of those movies that you can pull out on a lazy Sunday and still enjoy it.