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Arthur Dent is having a bad day. Someone is trying to demolish his house and aliens are about to demolish the Earth. So starts a galactic journey like no other. | score B |
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| Cast Sam Rockwell, Mos Def, Martin Freeman, John Malkovich, Bill Nighy Director Garth Jennings Screenwriter Douglas Adams Country UK / USA Rating / Running Time PG / 110 minutes Australian Release May 2005 Official Site (c) moviereview
2005
ABN 72 775 390 361 |
Any
film that starts with a chorus of dolphins singing, “so long and
thanks for all the fish” has got to be a hit. Part Goons, part
Python and altogether peculiar, Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
was cult radio in 1978. Several books and a TV series later, the Guide
has finally made it to the screen as Arthur Dent is kicked out off
Earth when it’s demolished to make way for a hyper-space bypass.
Before you can say “what’s a Babel fish?” he’s
half way around the galaxy on the ride of his life. Fans of any format
will be relieved to know that director Garth Jennings has brought it
over with veneration and style. The film is deeply familiar yet imbued
with enough reworked action to keep both devotees and newcomers hooked.
It’s overflowing with ideas, and criticism that too much of a
good thing is still too much, is not without foundation. Yet with lines
like “resistance is useless” and an uptight answering
machine that warns “your death may be monitored for training
purposes,” whose complaining? Not the cast who are clearly having
a fantastic time. Sam Rockwell as the deeply irritating Galactic
President hits the mark as do Alan Rickman and Helen Mirren as Marvin
the Paranoid Android and Deep Thought respectively. Don’t panic!
Grab a towel, stick out your thumb and join two celebrity-seeking mice
determined to discover the ultimate question to the answer of life, the
universe and everything. The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy – don’t leave earth without it.
// COLIN FRASER |