Don't panic! The destruction of Earth turns out to be quite funny.
People have been combining things they love for centuries-chocolate and peanut butter, ham and cheese, drinking and driving. The late Douglas Adams combined his two abiding loves-comedy and
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science fiction-into the highly successful
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
series. Adams' creation started life as a radio play, then began media-hopping from books to the BBC to video games and finally, after countless script re-writes and production delays, to feature film. Each of these incarnations has been slightly different from its predecessor but all have, at their core, remained true to the author's intentions.
The film is no different. It's the story of Arthur Dent (Martin Freeman), a glum Englishman who discovers his best friend Ford (rapper/actor Mos Def) is really an alien shortly before Earth is destroyed to make way for an new super highway for the space travel set. Ford, a researcher for the intergalactic guidebook
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
, helps Arthur escape by hitching a ride with a passing spaceship. The two friends find themselves traveling the galaxy in search of a mythical planet with an Earth-woman named Trillian (Zooey Deschanel) and the wacky, two-headed President of the Galaxy, Zaphod Beeblebrox (Sam Rockwell).
Hitchhiker's
relies on a Milky Way's worth of special effects to create, among other things, the destruction of our blue planet and spaceships capable of intergalactic flight. Nowadays, of course, these kinds of effects are created entirely on computers.
Hitchhiker's
is no different in terms of its space scenes but when it came time to create the film's supporting cast of aliens, the Vogons, director Garth Jennings (at the helm of his first feature) called upon Jim Henson's Creature Shop. Instead of lifeless digital blips on a green screen, the Vogons are actual creatures.
By giving the actors such physical characters and sets to interact with, Jennings brings out some
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great comedic performances from his cast. Rockwell plays Zaphod as a galactic George W Bush, delivering a ridiculous and inspired performance as the idiotic president. His politician's grin, slight Southern accent and manic energy are the film's highlight.
Mos Def performs Ford with great skill and timing and Freeman's Arthur, attired in pajamas and a bathrobe throughout the entire film, is appropriately schlubby and aghast at his outrageous predicament.
Despite the quality he nurses from his performers, Jennings, a veteran of music video, leaves a good deal of the film feeling scattered and even messy. Intermittent narration and comedic asides in the form of animated entries from the
Hitchhiker's Guide
come too frequently, derailing the rhythm and pacing of the narrative. Fortunately, most of these asides are funny in their own right, but Jennings pushes to get as many jokes in as possible at the expense of a fluid story. This structure, borrowed from the book, might have worked with a little more discipline in the editing room but, as it stands, leaves much of the film somewhat of a galactic jumble.
Despite its structural flaws,
Hitchhiker's
is a fun and entertaining film that combines the best of sci-fi and comedy for a result that's as pleasing as cookies and milk.
