The MovieReviewThis is by no means the worst
movie ever made; not by a long way. But is was still a serious disappointment,
and it can be summed up in one word: trite. You add bland, unfunny, superficial
and finally, Disney. Adam's vision has been utterly trivialised,
with such amateurish script editing that most of the humour has gone, leaving
single jokes where there were running gags, one-liners, where once was much more
subtle humour. | 
2005 | Granted something had to go to squeeze in the story
... but much has been cut to make room for new material, which is not funny, not
relevant, and adds little (if anything) to the plot. It's hurts me to dismiss
John Malkovich, a fine actor with superb timing; but his character was simply
not required, and the price we paid in terms of lost story, was way to high. Martin
Freeman reprised his 'Office' role, with seemingly no understanding that deadpan
and sad can work as a foil to over the top characters in a sitcom, but simply
doesn't cut it as the lead in a feature film. Adams could never write for
women; sorry, but it's true. And whoever decided to build up the part of Trillion
to become love interest and key role, should first have gone to someone who would
dare to rewrite the character from top to toe. Zooey Deschanel, doing her best,
was directed to play the part of a highly intelligent and sensible woman as a
doe-eyed bimbo. Zaphod was even more unfunny than his TV counterpart (is
that really possible?), and Ford Prefect was simply inconsistent, never really
developing a useful role. Most of the 'off world' sets were feeble; on TV
we had the BBC spending hundreds of pounds in failing to make a quarry look alien;
here we have Disney spending millions to make an alien set look like a quarry. And
finally (I cannot go on!) they've added teletubbie-style sound effects; inappropriate
squeeks and bells, just to keep that deep veneer of superficiality. CastBill
Bailey as The Whale (voice) Anna Chancellor as Questular Rontok Warwick
Davis as Marvin Mos Def as Ford Prefect Zooey Deschanel as Trillian
Su Elliot as Pub Customer Martin Freeman as Arthur Dent Stephen
Fry as Narrator/The Guide (voice) Richard Griffiths as Jeltz (voice)
Dominique Jackson as Fook Simon Jones as Ghostly Image Thomas Lennon
as Eddie the Computer (voice) Mark Longhurst as Bulldozer Driver Kelly
Macdonald as Reporter John Malkovich as Humma Kavula Ian McNeice as
Kwaltz (voice) Helen Mirren as Deep Thought (voice) Bill Nighy as Slartibartfast
Steve Pemberton as Mr. Prosser Alan Rickman as Marvin (voice) Sam
Rockwell as Zaphod Beeblebrox Jack Stanley as Lunkwill Mak Wilson as
Vogon Interpreter (voice) Albie Woodington as Barman Production credits
and details - Based on the books by Douglas Adams
- Screenplay
by Douglas Adams and Karey Kirkpatrick
- Executive producer: Douglas Adams,
Derek Evans, Robbie Stamp
- Producers included Todd Arnow, Roger Birnbaum,
Jonathan Glickman, Nick Goldsmith, and Jay Roach
- Original Music by Bernie
Leadon and Joby Talbot
- Cinematography by Igor Jadue-Lillo
- Film
Editing by Jerry Chater and Niven Howie
- Casting by Susie Figgis and Marcia
Ross
- Production Design by Joel Collins
- Art Direction by Alan
Cassie, Daniel May, Phil Simms, Andy Thomson and Frank Walsh
- Set Decoration
by Kate Beckly
- Costume Design by Sammy Howarth and Sammy Sheldon
DVD
Features° Making Of Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy ° Additional
Guide Entry ° Deleted Scenes ° Really Deleted Scenes °
Sing A Long ° Audio Commentaries ° Set Top Games Marvins Hangman
° Dont Crash Making Of | US
dvd | BluRay | | BluRay | UK
dvd | | |
The Movie on DVDAvailable from Amazon. | | |
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