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Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005)
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Reviews Counted:8
Fresh:6
Rotten:2
Average Rating:6.8/10
Consensus: A frantic and occasional funny adaptation of Douglas Adams' novel. However, it may have those unfamiliar with the source material scratching their heads.
Runtime: 1 hr 50 mins
Genre: Science-Fiction/Fantasy
Synopsis: Douglas Adams's long-awaited film version of THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY, based on his five-book series, is a funny, wacky, highly creative ride through a bizarre universe. Martin Freeman... Douglas Adams's long-awaited film version of THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY, based on his five-book series, is a funny, wacky, highly creative ride through a bizarre universe. Martin Freeman (Tim from THE OFFICE) stars as Arthur Dent, a British everyman suddenly thrust into intergalactic intrigue when the earth is destroyed by the Vogons to make room for an interspatial highway. Arthur travels the skyways with good friend Ford Prefect (Mos Def), an alien writer for an electronic encyclopedia called THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY. Things get downright dangerous--and absolutely hysterical--when Arthur and Ford thumb a ride with the president of the universe, two-headed Zaphod Beeblebrox (a wild and crazy Sam Rockwell); earthling Tricia McMillan (Zooey Deschanel), whom Arthur once had a thing for back in England; and a perpetually depressed robot named Marvin (voiced by Alan Rickman, played by Warwick Davis). With much of the galaxy after them, the motley crew makes its way toward a super-computer that just might be able to provide them with the ultimate question; they already know the answer. Based on a second-draft script written by Adams himself, who died shortly thereafter, H2G2 is a winning film that rightfully earns its place in the storied HITCHHIKER'S lore. And for an extra little bonus, make sure to sit through all of the credits. [More]
Starring: Martin Freeman, Sam Rockwell, Zooey Deschanel, Mos Def
Starring: Martin Freeman, Sam Rockwell, Zooey Deschanel, Mos Def, Alan Rickman, Bill Nighy, Warwick Davis, Anna Chancellor, John Malkovich, Stephen Fry, Helen Mirren
Director: Garth Jennings
Director: Garth Jennings
Screenwriter: Douglas Adams, Karey Kirkpatrick
Producer: Gary Barber, Roger Birnbaum, Jonathan Glickman, Jay Roach
Composer: Joby Talbot
Studio: Buena Vista Pictures
Reviews for Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Capturing the wry absurdist logic of Adams' comedy, Jennings' movie delivers more laughs than a single viewing can tease out.
Adams would have been flattered by Jennings’s lavish film debut. The graphics are fabulous. The aliens are deliciously grotesque, and Martin Freeman is inspired casting
Like The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou, but with much less visual charm, it is a conceit with little to be conceited about.
There are some inspired off-the-wall moments, but they are more than offset by a pervasive aura of tedium and the lack of any sense of the forward momentum necessary to sustain an adventure of this kind.
Inheriting baggy source material, talky pic remains more smile-inducing than laugh-aloud funny and has pacing and coherence problems. Thankfully, strong visuals and sight gags punch up the package.
While the long-awaited movie version has some trouble sustaining the blissfully ironic, witty irreverence that was the Adams sensibility, the fact that it hits the nail on the head to the extent it does should come as great relief to the legions of fans.
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