The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005)

Mere seconds before the Earth is to be demolished by an alien construction crew, journeyman Arthur Dent is swept off the planet by his friend Ford Prefect, a researcher penning a new edition of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy."

Director:

Garth Jennings

Writers:

Douglas Adams (book), Douglas Adams (screenplay),

Stars:

Martin Freeman, Mos Def, Sam Rockwell

1 win & 6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Bill Bailey	...	The Whale (voice)
Martin Freeman	...	Arthur Dent
Mos Def	...	Ford Prefect
Sam Rockwell	...	Zaphod Beeblebrox
Zooey Deschanel	...	Trillian
Bill Nighy	...	Slartibartfast
Warwick Davis	...	Marvin
Anna Chancellor	...	Questular Rontok
Alan Rickman	...	Marvin (voice)
Helen Mirren	...	Deep Thought (voice)
Stephen Fry	...	Narrator / The Guide (voice)
Simon Jones	...	Ghostly Image
John Malkovich	...	Humma Kavula
Thomas Lennon	...	Eddie the Computer (voice)
Kelly Macdonald	...	Reporter

Storyline

Everyone has bad mornings. You wake up late, you stub your toe, you burn the toast...but for a man named Arthur Dent, this goes far beyond a bad day. When he learns that a friend of his is actually an alien with advanced knowledge of Earth's impending destruction, he is transported off the Earth seconds before it is exploded to make way for a new hyperspace motorway. And as if that's not enough, throw in being wanted by the police, Earth II, an insane electronic encyclopedia, no tea whatsoever, a chronically depressed robot and the search for the meaning of life, and you've got the greatest adventure off Earth.

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Plot Keywords:

galaxy | alien | spaceship | friend | meaning of life | 

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Taglines:

Losing your planet isn't the end of the world.

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Genres:

Adventure | Comedy | Sci-Fi

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for thematic elements, action and mild language

Details

Country:

USA UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

29 April 2005 (USA)

Also Known As:

Guía del viajero intergaláctico

Filming Locations:

Beehive Pub, Hare Street, Nr Buntingford, Hertfordshire, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$50,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$35,905 (Norway) (19 August 2005)

Gross:

$1,188,799 (France) (19 August 2005)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Touchstone Pictures, Spyglass Entertainment, Everyman Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

109 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital SDDS DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The fancy dress party contains several references to Douglas Adams' 40th birthday party. At the real party, Adams introduced Darwinian Evolutionist Richard Dawkins to the future Mrs Dawkins, actress Lalla Ward. In the film, Arthur is seen reading Dawkins' book, "The Selfish Gene", when he meets Tricia, who is dressed as Charles Darwin. Adams and Dawkins became very good friends after Adams received a fan letter from him.

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Goofs

When Ford is scooting along with the trolley full of beer he passes a red truck on the right side of the screen (Ford's left side) however when the shot pans out there are only red trucks on the left side of the screen (Ford's right).

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Quotes

[first lines]
The Book: It's an important and popular fact that things are not always what they seem. For instance, on the planet Earth, Man had always assumed that he was the most intelligent species occupying the planet, instead of the *third* most intelligent. The second most intelligent creatures were of course dolphins who, curiously enough, had long known of the impending destruction of the planet earth. They had made many attempts to alert mankind to the danger, but most of their communications ...

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Crazy Credits

After a couple of minutes of typical movie credits, we are treated with a final, classic Guide entry. It refers to Arthur Dent carelessly speaking words about a towel, which ends up being interpreted by a pair of warring factions as a devastating insult. They then spend thousands of years coming to Earth bent on revenge, however "due to a terrible miscalculation of scale the entire battle fleet was accidentally swallowed by a small dog". The Guide concludes with the reassuring nugget of wisdom, "this sort of thing is going on all the time".

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Connections

Referenced in Comedy Connections: The Office (2007)

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Soundtracks

"Magic Moments"
Written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David
Performed by Perry Como
Courtesy of RCA Records
By Arrangement with SONY BMG Music Licensing

User Reviews

What has all the fuss been about?

First, let me start by saying that this is a funny film.

Like many others, I suspect, I was worried by the MJ Simpson negative review, but having seen the film I can't really understand what all the fuss was about.

Personally, I am very happy that this version contains the new material. I don't want to sit in the cinema watching a line by line copy of the radio play, book, or TV series. Each of those stand by their own merit, and each were good largely because of the new material they contained.

I think the cast did an excellent job, and although Zaphod wasn't quite how I pictured him, Sam Rockwell brought a freshness to the part which largely works. His portrayal of Zaphod as a guy who "thinks he is cool", rather than "is cool" works pretty well, and once you get over the southern drawl, he soon settles as a character. Ford is beautifully played, as are all the major characters.

Admittedly, some of the criticisms that were voiced by Simpson have some justification, but most were simply overstated to support his general vitriolic attack on the "purity" of the film.

In summary, go to see this film and don't worry.

I'm looking forward to the DVD and I have all my fingers crossed for a sequel.

Martin