"Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" begins by stating that homo sapiens, as in humans, are the third most intelligent species on the Earth, not first as we presently believe. Second come dolphins, which have been trying to communicate with us for years.
The most intellectually advanced species is left undisclosed, but the viewer doesn't even have time to notice before dolphins are singing a Broadway showtune.
The adaptation of Douglas Adams's imaginative novel is an exercise in comedic surrealism to match the original.
Arthur Dent, played by Martin Freeman of "Shaun of the Dead" and "Love Actually," is a human. He awakes to be told his house needs to be destroyed to make way for a highway.
Then his alien friend Ford Prefect (Mos Def "Lackawanna Blues," better known for rap stardom), who has been living under the guise of a human, tells him that Earth is to suffer a similar fate for the extension of a hyperspace freeway.
Zaphod, (Sam Roberts of "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" and "Matchstick Men") newly elected President of the Imperial Galactic Government, signed the decision to destroy Earth after stealing Arthur's would-be girlfriend Trillian, (Zooey Deschanel, "Almost Famous") with the line, "Wanna see my spaceship?"
Arthur and Prefect defy probability and end up hitching a ride with Zaphod, where Arthur finds his heartthrob manning the ship, so to speak. The group of four, plus a clinically depressed robot named Marvin, set out to accomplish two objectives: a) find a new home since Earth has been destroyed and b) unravel the "42" enigma.
A conversation after watching "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" brings up the following: "Star Wars," the early Nineties Fox series "Dinosaurs," "Spaceballs," "Shaun of the Dead," "Independence Day," "Big Fish," and probably a half-dozen other disparate influences.
For someone who has never read the book, the movie is a raw delight.
Director Glenn Jennings has never directed a full-length feature film before, let alone adapted a film from a popular novel, a task which always carries with it high expectations. But on his first attempt he makes he creates a film adaptation comparable to "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas."
The acting is, for the most part, good. Exception lies in Sam Roberts, who is, well, exceptional. His manic performance as Zaphod brings to mind Jack Nicholson in "Easy Rider." He's a pimped-out President of the galaxy, and he acts out the arrogance and presumptions of the role as such.
For someone who has read the book, the movie is gratifying. While some incidents in the plot were left out and some others enjoyed a dramatically larger role - the relationship between Arthur and Trillian, for example - the important points are all satisfyingly present.
Adams's sense of humor remains intact throughout the film, with a bowl of petunias, Babel fish and the other memorable moments brilliantly brought to life. While the philosophy on morality and some other less-than-palpable ideas seemed to be absent, the film fills nearly two hours with accurate representations of the most humorous moments from the book.
"Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" successfully brings breathtaking visuals to concepts like the Heart of Gold and the planet factory without the expense of the book's original eccentric sense of humor. Where a disappointed moviegoer could easily complain, "That's not how I imagined it in the book," the film presents amazing and resourceful use of special effects to represent familiar people and places.
Dramatic or surprisingly humorous scenes, such as Trillian's confession of doubt or the destruction of the planet Earth, lean heavily on the strong musical score to announce the appropriate mood. The Vogon fleet's invasion would have rivaled the scare factor of "Signs" without the lighthearted destruction theme (which, somehow, seems to say "Well, that's just how life goes.").
Overall, "Hitchhiker" fits as much of the book into the 1 hour 50 minute film as accurately as possible.
Photo: Courtesy of Matthew Messina, from the RMBERS' Instagram page
