The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy

Director: Garth Jennings
Starring: Martin Freeman, Mos Def, Sam Rockwell, Zooey Deschanel, Alan Rickman, Bill Nighy, Stephen Fry
Certificate: PG
Genre: Sci Fi, Comedy
Awards: None

The Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy is based off the first book in the series written by Douglas Adams. It follows Arthur Dent (Freeman) - a normal seeming person - as he is taken on an adventure in space after the earth is destroyed in order to create a new hyper way.

The film is fairly respectful to the book and seems to follow the same sort of story - albeit adding more things for the Vogons to do. However, I don't think a film can convey the humour of the book as well. Adams' writing can sometimes not be put visually. It's not all about the characters and what they do but how he can play with different perspectives. Some of this is shown with a cartoon being narrated by Stephen Fry. These are arguably the best bits which brings up the point if the film should just be an audio book narrated by Fry.

I also have a problem with the character of Ford Prefect (Def). He is supposed to be an alien who was stranded on earth and acts quite strangely in the books. Def plays him a bit too human and he becomes just a forgettable character. The rest of the cast seem to fit quite well. Even the smallest roles are given to a variety of well known British and American talent (Helen Mirren, Bill Bailey and John Malkovich among them).

THHGTTG is still funny, but it doesn't really feel like it is needed. Fans of the books will already know most of the quotes and humour off by heart and will therefore feel like they are just reading them again with half the pages ripped out. If you haven't read the books, heard the radio show or watched the TV show, you will find this a witty little film that feels incredibly British. However, you might as well just read the books and have a better experience.

***Okay