Nicole Knight
Sports Editor
A best selling book “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” turned movie will leave audiences with mild giggles and bizarre confusion. The weird space creatures, odd dolphin musical number and a two-headed galaxy president were a lot to swallow if you hadn’t read the book.
“The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” tells the strange adventure of Arthur Dent (Martin Freeman), who is thrust into the galaxy after his home planet Earth is terminated to make way for a hyperspace expressway. Dent’s alien friend Ford Prefect (Mos Def) saves him by hitchhiking off earth before the demolition. Dent and Prefect embark on a crazy journey as they team up with the zany President of the Galaxy, Zephod Beebelbrox (Sam Rockwell) and fellow earthling Tricia McMillan (Zooey Deschanel). The group travels across the galaxy in search of the ultimate question. Throughout their adventure, the confused Dent uses the “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” to explain the vast new universe he has been thrown into.
As Dent used the Hitchhiker’s Guide, so did the audience. Computerized images popped onto the screen explaining various elements of the galaxy. These explanations provided mild humor and cleared up confusing parts of the movie.
The actors and actresses’ performances were not extraordinary but decent for the role. Every character at one point in the movie had difficulty expressing the emotional moment.
The movie did provide some mild comedic moments to suit the PG rating.
The innocent entertainment came from the chronically depressed robot sidekick Marvin and a spaceship that changed into random objects.
However, aside from the random, child-like humor, most of the characters were over-the-top cheesy. The President of the Galaxy became instantly annoying with his arrogant jokes and idiocy. Also, the double-headed, split personality comedy from the president came off as strange and overdone. Not to mention, the odd antagonist space creatures called Vogons, who resembled deformed “Star Wars” characters that read poetry to torture captives.
At times, the story felt incomplete and in need of explanation. This confusion was probably because “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” is originally a book. With such a complicated story, the movie was bound to have some holes. Those who have read the book would most likely have a better understanding of the movie.
The creative storyline and intricate characters gave proof of a best selling book. However, without the book’s background knowledge, the movie came across weird and random.
Although the movie reached box office gold last weekend, the viewer’s curiosity would be better satisfied if they read the book then rented the movie.
Overall, “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” could have been better if left to the imagination.
Nicole Knight can be reached at stareknight17@charter.net.
