DVD Review: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
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::Movie review
I think I first read book The HitchHiker's Guide to the Galaxy when I was around 12 years old. It was probably about 2, maybe 3 weeks later when I read it for a second time. I still have that original copy of the book and it is about as threadbare as a well-used towel.
I watched the television show when it aired for a brief time on Sundays, along with Dr. Who.
Although I never actually listened to it, I've read the radio script.
I've even played the maddeningly difficult text-based computer game (oddly enough, I recently came across a copy of it and I'm happy to say that it is as frustrating as ever).
The point being that I'm used to the many different incarnations of the Guide. Douglas Adams never intended it to be a static story that was only ever told one way. So maybe that's why I'm more forgiving than some critics of the fact that the film is, in many respects, very different from the book.
Adams always tried to play to the strengths of any given media. The book used clever plays on words ("the Vogon ships hung in the air in the same way that bricks don't"), while the radio show relied on quick, snappy dialog. The film follows this tradition by exploiting the visual nature of film to poke ironic fun at some "standard" over-the-top science fiction moments (such as the destruction of the Earth), and to create sight gags that would have been impossible anywhere else (such as one of the film's funniest moments involving the main characters being turned into crocheted dolls).
The story of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy follows the adventures of Arthur Dent (Martin Freeman), who is almost the last living human being after the Earth is destroyed (in order to make room for a hyperspace bypass). Arthur is quite annoyed with the fate of the Earth, but he has little time to dwell on it as he finds himself held prisoner on an alien space ship, cast out of an airlock into the cold depths of space, rescued by a loony ship that is piloted by an even loonier two-headed alien, and on a bizarre quest to rescue the only other living human being, Trillian (Zooey Deschanel), while simultaneously helping to discover the ultimate question about life, the universe and everything.
Yes. It's just that sort of movie. Oh, and there's also a depressed android named Marvin who happens to have a brain the size of a small planet.
Where some movies might embrace logic to support their stories, Hitchhiker's embraces logic in a bone-crushing bear hug, then throws it onto the ground, stomps on it, beats it with a club, stomps on it some more, lights it on fire, stomps the fire out, drowns it, throttles it, cuts it into ribbons, stomps on some of the ribbons while the others are forced to watch, and then rolls all of the bits up into a ball and chucks it into some other movie. In short, this just isn't the sort of movie for people who think too clearly. It's a movie for people whose perspectives are kind of skewed. It's a movie for, well, fans of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (and for those few who, improbably, are fans, but just won't know it until after they see this film).
Still, although the movie is a lot of fun, it does have a few weak areas. But first, the stuff it gets right: I already mentioned the Earth scene and the doll scene. I also particularly like a bit where the main characters encounter creatures who feed off of original thoughts, so they struggle to not think at all, lest they be smacked painfully in the face. Also, there is a much more developed love story between Arthur and Trillian than in previous versions of Hitchhiker's, and while I was at first unsure of this, I think it was handled just right for these characters.
Where the film isn't as solid is with some of the jokes. I can't really say that the jokes don't work. It's more of a problem that many of them are either fired off so quickly it's difficult to recover, or they are so subtle that it will require several viewings to catch them all. There are also few moments that are really only funny of you are thoroughly familiar with the previous installments of Hitchhiker's. I thought that all of these things worked, but then again, I'm exactly the right target audience. They may, however, make the movie less accessible for a wider audience.
One other thing about the film that isn't necessarily a bad thing, but just different, is that the characters here are altered from the previous incarnations of the story. On a fundamental level, they are still the same, but they seem to have much more drive and motivation now. This was a necessity for a more coherent story, but it's just strange to see these characters opperate with much more of a purpose, rather than mostly just waiting for stuff to happen to them.
Overall, I liked the handling of this version. I was worried that without Adams around to oversee things, it might degenerate into something decidedly non-Hitchhiker's. Thankfully, it seems that everyone involved really wanted to do the story justice. And they more or less succeeded.
::Video
Usually this portion of my reviews are pretty boring. The reason for that is simple: Compression technology has improved to the point where poor looking discs are nearly unheard of.
Sadly, the boredom ends here. Imagine my surprise to discover this disc riddled with compression artifacts and errors. Even the colors don't seem quite as vivid as they should. While the contrasts are pretty good, and I noticed no edge enhancement problems, the compression and color errors really chop the legs out of this presentation.
I see no other reason for this other than all of the other materials on the disc have intruded upon the video space. I know that 2-disc editions are more expensive to produce, but I think Touchstone should have anted up the extra cost. The film did better than expected at the box office, so it deserved a little better treatment on DVD.
::Audio
The audio is presented in both 5.1 Dolby Digital and DTS. Overall, it's a solid sound presentation, with some good range and earth-shattering bass, but there does seem to be a bit of failing with the overall mix. At times, the sound effects and music seem to drown out the dialog, particularly any lines spoken by Mos Def (who plays Ford Prefect), whose voice is rather subdued anyway.
::Special Features
I have to say that, while I appreciate the effort, I was a bit underwhelmed by the extras in this set. What is here isn't bad, but there just seemed like there should have been so much more.
First off are a pair of audio commentaries. The first features director Garth Jennings, producer Nick Goldsmith, and actors Martin Freeman and Bill Nighy (who played Slartibartfast). The second commentary features executive producer Robbie Stamp and long time Douglas Adams colleague Sean Solle. Of these two commentiaries, I thought the latter was a bit more informative and insightful, while the first was a bit more fun.
The next feature is a useless 9 minute featurette called The Making of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I call it useless because 9 minutes isn't really enough time to talk about anything. This comes off more as a glorified trailer than anything else and completely lacks any real substance about the making the film. Hitchhiker's has been a phenomenon for nearly three decades and its journey to the screen deserves more than just a few minutes of promotional fluff.
The disc includes 5 deleted scenes, of which only three are actual deleted scenes. The remaining two are most just outtakes than anything else.
The is an Additional Guide entry, that fans of the book will instantly recognize.
And finally, the disc includes a karaoke version of the opening song "So Long, and Thanks For all the Fish" and a hangman game featuring Marvin, the Paranoid Android.
::Bottom Line
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy may disappoint those who have only read the books and were hoping for a completely faithful adaptation. I think the the more generalized Hitchhiker's fan base will appreciate this as yet another entry into that world, an entry that has its own unique charms. My main gripe is with the presentation of the DVD, which think is lacking. Given that a European edition exists that includes a much longer making of documentary, I can only speculate that Touchstone (Buena Vista) plans on releasing a more robust edition some time in the future.
Buy The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy at DVDEmpire.com
| Movie |  |
4 / 5 |
| Video | |
2.5 / 5 |
| Audio | |
3 / 5 |
| Extras | |
3 / 5 |
| Family Friendly | |
3 / 5 |
| As the actual Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy might say, this film is "Mostly Harmless." There are a few intense scenes, but most of the action/violence is, all things considered, pretty tame. Even most of the humor is essentially benign, and those jokes that are of a more adult nature are subtle enough to likely go over the heads of the youngsters. | ||
| Overall | |
3.5 / 5 |
- Robert Wurth, ©2005
::Technical Specs
Studio:
Touchstone Home Entertainment
Year of Theatrical Release:
2005
Disc Format:
1 single-sided, Dual Layer
Image Format:
Anamorphic Widescreen
Aspect Ratio:
2.35:1
Region Encoding:
1 (North America)
Sound Format:
Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS
Running Time:
109 minutes
Director:
Garth Jennings
Stars:
Martin Freeman, Mos Def, Sam Rockwell, Zooey Deschanel
MPAA Rating:
PG
Disc Supplements:
- Commentary by director Garth Jennings, producer Nick Goldsmith, and actors Martin Freeman and Bill Nighy
- Commentary by executive producer Robbie Stamp and Sean Solle
- "The Making of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" featurette
- "Additional Guide Entry"
- Deleted scenes
- Fake deleted scenes
- Sing Along: “So Long & Thanks For All The Fish”
- Marvin's Hangman
