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List Price: $14.99 | | Label: Buena Vista Home Entertainment / Touchstone
Salesrank: 2598
Released: September 13, 2005 |
| Our Price: $6.39 |
| Used Price: $1.98 |
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MPAA Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Arthur dent is having a really bad day! when he learns that a friend is actually an alien with knowledge of earths impending destruction he is transported off the planet. And if thats not enough throw in being wanted by the police & a chronically depressed robot & youve got the greatest adventure off earth. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 08/10/2007 Starring: Martin Freeman Zooey Deschanel Run time: 109 minutes Rating: Pg
Description of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Widescreen Edition):
Don't panic! After twenty years stuck in development (a mere blink compared to how long it takes to find the answer to life, the universe, and everything), The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy has finally been turned into a movie. Following the radio play, TV series, commemorative towel, and books, this latest installment in the sci-fi-comedy franchise is based on the screenplay and detailed notes by Douglas Adams.
Hitching a ride. |
For those unfamiliar with the story, everyman Arthur Dent (Martin Freeman) wakes up one morning to discover that his house is set to be demolished to make room for a bypass. Little does he know the entire planet Earth is also set to be destroyed for an interplanetary bypass by the Vogons, a hideous and bureaucratic race of aliens realized in the film by Jim Henson's Creature Shop. Whisked off the planet by his best friend, alien-in-disguise Ford Prefect (Mos Def), Dent embarks on a goofy jaunt across the galaxy accompanied by his trusty Hitchhiker's Guide, which looks like a really fancy PDA.
The guide itself provides some of the funniest bits of the movie, little animated shorts that explain the ludicrous life forms and extraterrestrial phenomena our heroes encounter. Along the way Arthur meets the two-headed party animal/president of the galaxy Zaphod Beeblebrox (Sam Rockwell) and develops an unrequited crush on fellow earthling Trillian (Zooey Deschanel). The creatures and sets are inspired and answer to the sci-fi fan's primal need to see lots and lots of cool stuff. In particular, there's John Malkovich's creepy, CGI-enhanced Humma Kavula. He's a guru leading a religion that worships the gigantic nose that allegedly sneezed the universe into existence (naturally all their prayers end not with "Amen" but with "Bless you.") The aliens the team encounters are inspired creations, eminently worthy of action figure-ification, and the sets belie an attention to detail worthy of freeze-framing. Fans of the other Hitchhiker manifestations, namely the British TV series, will be amused by a number of in-jokes sprinkled throughout the movie.
Concept art: The Heart of Gold pod on the planet Vogsphere |
Where the story stumbles is in the telling--as books, the Hitchhiker's Guide was foremost about goofy and brilliant ideas that raised questions about our place in the universe while getting a laugh. The cast seems at times bewildered, at least when Sam Rockwell isn't picking pieces of scenery out of his teeth, perhaps a natural reaction to an adaptation of a book with no traditional plot. The movie has enough trouble figuring out how to get the characters from one fantastical location to the next that Adams's funniest concepts often feel left in the dust. While the reverence the filmmakers felt toward Adams's legacy is apparent, one wonders what we could have expected had the creator of this science fiction universe lived to see it with his own eyes. -- Ryan Boudinot
A Guide to the Guide
The Soundtrack | 
The Radio Play (CD) | 
The TV Series |
The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide (Deluxe Edition) | 
The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide (Paperback) | 
The Filming of the Douglas Adams Classic (book) |
Interviews with The Cast and Director
Watch our interviews with the cast and director of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and find out what they think of other DVDs and books:
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The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Widescreen Edition) Reviews:
One of my all time favorites 
2009-12-15 - I love the mixture of a wild story with good humor and effective special effects. Of course, I have long been a fan of Douglas Adams. I think the film did a brilliant job of following Adams and even enhancing his work.
Fun! But not the same at the book 
2009-10-17 - I enjoyed this movie, bringing such a great book to life. But as is such with most movies, it really doesn't come close to the book.
I know why Marvin is depressed! 
2009-09-29 - The answer to the ultimate question is, of course, 42. And the question is, I believe, this: "If I were being really, REALLY, and I mean totally, generous, what score would I give this movie out of 100?"
Sorry, but this movie should perhaps be retitled "How To Lose Fans and Ruin A Masterpiece". Folks, if you're thinking of watching this movie, you're going to need at least three super-strong pangalactic gargleblasters and a seriously large towel. Or, if you're an alien, you could try removing your babel fish from your ear so you don't understand the earth dialogue, and then adding in dialogue of your own, to make it more amusing. Alternately -- and this is what I would firmly suggest -- you could simply grab a copy of the old British series of Hitchhiker's, and watch that instead, since it is about a billion times funnier and more coherent than this crappy version.
Okay, I would love to know which 'genius' is to blame for a) turning Ford Prefect from being a cool, insightful, funny guy into a bumbling, mumbling, very minor support character, b) turning the Hitchhiker's storyline from being a hilarious and irreverent mockery of conventiality into a silly run-of-the-mill romance movie, c) deciding that instead of letting Zaphod Beeblebrox be the ultra-hip, cool, egocentric yet interesting guy he's supposed to be, they would make him a sociopathic, dull, useless klutz of a president with all the charisma and charm of a stinky old pickled herring, who is also an identical doppelganger of Chad Kroeger from Nickelback, albeit without Chad's personality, talent and likeable voice, and d) giving the story a moral, like an after school special, and making Arthur Dent 'learn his lesson' and become more brave and adventurous in order to win the girl. (Arthur is, I believe, symbolic of the average, very ordinary man in the street, hence why we ordinary folk empathise with him. Thus, making him any more than average, and having him evolving into a sickeningly noble hero, kind of detracts from that, and turns him into just another stock movie character.)
All in all, this movie was poorly executed and did little justice to the original book's plot.
If I had to say something good about this movie, it would be this: the song 'So Long and Thanks For All The Fish' is really good, as is the original theme music. Also, Stephen Fry is charming. I liked the 'point of view gun' too. And it's nice to see a few of the cast members from the original version of Hitchhiker's making a (sadly brief) appearance. But other than that...well, frankly, I would rather listen to Vogon poetry than watch this movie again, thanks.
a zany book makes for a zany DVD
2009-09-25 - I have been a big fan of Hitchhiker's Guide for many years. There is an excellent radio version of it, and I think this video is more than an adequate rendition of Adams' zany cast of characters and events. Pure escapism!
Nice DVD
2009-09-14 - Nice dvd, good extras! good cover in glossy papper.
ANd I really liked the movie!!
