THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY (2005)

Films we see and love as children and teenagers sometimes don’t hold up to a rewatch when we’re older, or turn out to have a lot more going on than our young brains could comprehend. They can also imprint on you in peculiar ways, giving you references which you don’t understand, a taste for a kind of humour, or a lifelong celebrity crush. Garth Jennings’s 2005 adaptation of Douglas Adams’ book, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, certainly is that kind of film to me. As a French-Canadian 12-year-old, I hadn’t yet been subjected to wacky British humour (although I would discover gems like Monty Python a few years later), and even with a taste for science fiction thanks to my parents’ love of trilogies like Star Wars (1977-1983) and Back to the Future (1985-89), the genre was still more of a mystery to me.

Admittedly, this film adaptation is a watered-down one to some degree. Watching as an adult, its Americanisation is now evident to me, and it feels like a business move to appeal to North American audiences. Adams’ work is singular and has amassed a unique and very knowledgeable fanbase, much like other lore-heavy cult classics like Lord of the Rings (2001-03), or lesser-known internet universes like the SCP Foundation. Originally a comedy radio series broadcast in 1978, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy evolved into a series of novels and comic-books. It was then adapted into a 1981 TV show and even had a video game spin-off in 1984. While I don’t think having read any of the books is a prerequisite to enjoying the 2005 film, I highly recommend it if you did enjoy the movie, as the universe is rich, the writing is hilarious, and the author is very serious about being as un-serious as possible.

For the uninitiated, Hitchhiker’s follows Arthur Dent (Martin Freeman), a regular, boring English lad, possibly having the worst day of his life. His house is set for demolition to make way for a motorway on the same day the Earth is also planned to be destroyed by an alien race called the Vogons to make way for a hyperspace bypass. Thankfully, his best friend Ford Prefect (Mos Def) is a hitchhiking alien who manages to save them both by jumping into a Vogon ship.

Homeless in more ways than one, Arthur is forced into a galaxy-spanning adventure wearing his dressing gown and slippers, with a towel and his mobile phone as his only baggage. Ford teaches him the basics of hitchhiking in the galaxy; he’s a writer for the titular Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and generously lets Arthur read his copy. The Guide, narrated by the quintessential British voice of Stephen Fry, contains just as much precious advice as ridiculous tidbits of information, and counters Arthur’s cynical sarcasm with its deadpan humour and disaffected tone. Freeman is a great casting choice for Arthur, portraying the no-nonsense Earthling with sensibility through the character’s growth. Arthur might be a homebody, but when home has ceased to exist, one must survive in any way one can.

By a formidable stroke of luck, Arthur and Ford manage to escape the inhospitable Vogon ship they first hitchhiked on and end up on the Heart of Gold, the starship commandeered by Zaphod Beeblebrox (Sam Rockwell), the President of the Galaxy and Ford’s semi-cousin. Travelling with him are Trillian (Zooey Deschanel), an Earthling whom Arthur has the biggest crush on, and the clinically depressed android Marvin (Warwick Davis, voiced by Alan Rickman). Zaphod has kidnapped himself and stolen the starship to look for a fabled planet called Magrathea, which is supposed to hold the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything, to help them make sense of the disappointing answer given by another supercomputer, which was ’42’”’.

While I remembered Deschanel’s portrayal of Trillian as this quirky, “not-like-the-others” girl fondly, time has not been kind to this characterisation. It’s no fault of Deschanel’s, who’s forever been typecast as a Manic Pixie Dream Girl, but rather a flaw in the source material’s characterisation of women. Arthur is smitten with Trillian’s energy, yet is too scared to emulate it for himself and follow along. It places her in the villain’s role at the start of the film, as she spurns Arthur and his indecisiveness and chooses to follow Zaphod, a somewhat despicable yet much more adventurous spirit. A surface-level analysis will be that Trillian chose the hot, rich guy over the good guy, when in reality, she chose the guy who could offer her what she wanted (spontaneous adventure) over the one who denied the connection and didn’t take the plunge with her. But all ends well, as Arthur realises adventure isn’t so bad, and steps out of his comfort zone to honour his connection with Trillian.

Rockwell’s performance was more divisive, as yet another Americanisation of the British source material: Zaphod is the epitome of the often-seen character with buckets of charm and limited intellect. This type of character lends itself to cartoonish, black and white performances, which isn’t helped by the fact that Zaphod has severed part of his personality to become president, letting go of some of his less-desirable traits. He is but a mirror of his true self, which is probably why Rockwell’s performance seemed shallow to most; in my opinion, he did a good job at portraying the dynamic parts of the character. On top of that, Zaphod’s severing of his personality gave way to some truly weird special effects, where his neck pops out to reveal another face, and a third arm is hidden under his rock-star-esque president apparel. Overall, Zaphod is unlikeable and made me feel uneasy, which I reckon was the whole point.

Luck seems to be the main source of power of the Heart of Gold’s improbability drive, as it brings the characters exactly where they need to be, which is a handy plot device. It brings the haphazard crew all over the galaxy for their misadventures, encountering more weird aliens for some fun celebrity cameos, including John Malkovich as cult leader Humma Kavula and Bill Nighy as Slartibartfast.

A big part of Hitchhiker’s charm is due to its special effects. It integrates more practical effects than other sci-fi films of the period, as CGI was the shiny new toy for most VFX teams back then. The film enlisted the help of Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, which is behind some iconic creatures and puppets, like the Muppets, and had worked on other beautiful, wacky films such as Labyrinth (1986), 101 Dalmatians (1996), and Where the Wild Things Are (2009). Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy had a lukewarm performance at the US box office, grossing $4.2M in its first week and $21.1M in its opening weekend.

Its worldwide box office gross was $104.5M, double its production budget of $50M. Critics were lukewarm; while some were delighted by its quirkiness, others found it hard to understand or simply unfunny. One critic, Philip French, described it as “… funnier, and obviously cleverer, than Spaceballs, Mel Brooks’s puerile spoof on Star Wars, but a good bit less engaging than Galaxy Quest.” I would be more generous than French in my final assessment, because while it is quite a bit weirder than Galaxy Quest, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy has a whimsical charm all its own, a little spice that’s simply not part of most blockbusters, then and now.

UK • USA | 2005 | 109 MINUTES | 2.39:1 • 2.35:1 | COLOUR | ENGLISH

Cast & Crew

director: Garth Jennings.
writers: Douglas Adams & Karey Kirkpatrick (based on the novel by Douglas Adams).
starring: Sam Rockwell, Mos Def, Zooey Deschanel, Martin Freeman, Bill Nighy, Anna Chancellor & John Malkovich.