The Hitchhicker's Guide To The Galaxy review.

Last week on Friday I trudged out in the rain to see the first showing of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy. As I stated before I went into this movie with a open mind, torn between my love of the original story and some of the negative reviews that had come out from screenings. Well, needless to say all my fears disappeared within the first 2 minutes of the movie. The opening credit song "So Long and Thanks For All The Fish", song by dolphins, was like watching a Monty Python rerun, it was hilarious. I could tell at this point that the theatre was split up into two groups. Those that had read the books and got it, and those who had never heard of it before and were wondering what they had just spent their $7.50 on.

Fans of the books will not be disappointed. Garth Jennings direction of the script originally started by Douglas Adams himself follows all the points given in the book. A slight mash of the several books, a lot is covered in this screenplay. Some slight changes come in the form of a character created by Adams for the movie to act as the quasi-villain, Humma Kavula played by John Malkovich. The other change is the character of Trillion, who is escalated from a side character to a main love interest torn between Arthur and Zaphod. Shot entirely in the UK and with a cast that fits every role to a tee, this couldn't have been made any better. the re-creation of scenes from the book are spot-on and sometimes even better than you could have imagined. And I wasn't the only one in the theatre able to recite lines as they played across the screen. The chemistry between Arthur (Martin Freeman) and Ford (Mos Def) is great, and their interaction on screen makes you believe that these guys are old friends. Zaphod is played to the extreme by Sam Rockwell, sometimes over the top, but never more than you would expect from the President of the Universe. The Vogons (created by Jim Henson Studios) are huge and have great expression and some of the funniest moments in the movie, especially when during a battle Ford chases them away with a towel and when they chase him back he closes a small wooden gate at which point they sigh and state they must go back and go around. Even the use of the Improbability Drive is shown in great scenes with the Heart Of Gold changing shape and how it effects those inside.( Used to great effect in a scene completely played out with all the characters as yarn dolls).

The only negative thing I would say, and this is my point of view, I would have liked to see more use of the guide throughout the movie. What we saw of it only made you want more and more entries shown on screen. And the movie ends with a bang, as the Heart Of Gold jumps it takes several shapes, the last being the image of Douglas Adam's face for a fleeting moment on the screen. A fitting tribute to the man who died too young, and never got to see his work finally on the silver screen. I am sure he would have been very proud. "Don't Panic!"