Some people believe in true love in the outer reaches of the galaxy. Some people believe in aliens and spaceships and far away planets with their own hosts of odd-ball beings. Some people may also enjoy the movie adaptation of Douglas Adam’s “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.”
But “Don’t panic,” as the film’s slogan goes, if you aren’t already well-acquainted with the awful poetry of the Vogons and the power of Infinite Improbability Drives, because “Guide” still has a lot to offer movie-goers who aren’t looking to have the universe explained, but rather just poked fun at. The original novel is not required reading to appreciate this hour and 40 minutes of escapism.
From the opening sequence featuring a dolphin musical number titled “So Long, and Thanks For All The Fish,” what follows is a slapstick race through hyperspace with the bathrobe-clad protagonist Arthur Dent (Martin Freeman) jumping from ship to ship and planet to planet.
Dragging Dent along for the ride is his alien best friend, Ford Prefect, portrayed by hip-hop star and Springfest no-show Mos Def, who keeps up the pace by doing his best impersonation of “Seinfeld’s” Cosmo Kramer.
However, the real comedy doesn’t begin until Dent and Prefect inadvertently hitch a ride on the ship The Heart of Gold, where they encounter the brainless galaxy president Zaphod Beeblebrox (Sam Rockwell), Marvin the depressed robot (Alan Rickman) and Dent’s lost love, Trillian (Zooey Deschanel).
Beeblebrox is a two-man show in himself, with his two heads stacked upon one another and just enough semblance to another more familiar clueless leader. Deschanel brings back her doe eyes and girl-next-door charm as she did with Will Ferrel in “Elf,” except she has more depth this time. She has a desire to be wanted and a reckless energy that makes her all the more likeable.
Even John Malkovich appears as religious zealot Humma Kavula for one of the films creepier scenes (picture Krang from “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” with the head of Judge Doom from “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”).
But “Guide” drags on at points. There’s only so much slapping in the face one can take on the Vogon planet and only so long we can watch Dent fret over whether or not to take some risks.
When Dent does go on to meet Slartibartfast (Bill Nighy), and sees the creation of planets, it is beautiful. But it’s the kind of serene majesty and subdued energy of an underwater IMAX movie and the result is a sudden desire to fall fast asleep.
The visuals are impressive though, and the laughs, when they come, are hearty. It’s not as rapid-fire as one may have hoped, but when the right sequence of stunning shots through the galaxy happens or when the Infinite Improbabilty Drive turns all its passengers into stop-motion animated yarn-dolls, it is truly satisfying. As is the scene when a whale and a pot of petunias are randomly conjured up by the same ship mechanism and we follow their streams of consciousness from their inception to questioning their existence and finally to their ill-fated free fall.
It’s unfortunate that moments like that don’t come around nearly enough. It almost appears as if the movie doesn’t know if it wants to be an irreverent space case, a la Monty Python, a love story strewn across the galaxy or a big budget CGI eye-candy bonanza with a lot to look at, but little underneath.
If you’re looking for a carefree romp through the galaxy, “Guide” is no Vogon poetry (and that’s a good thing). But if you’re looking for a little more depth in your star story, then stick to Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s “The Little Prince.”
