The Hitchhiker’s Guide To the Galaxy (2005/Blu-ray)
Picture:
B- Sound: B+ Extras: C- Film: C-
A classic
book and celebrated TV mini-series, Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide To the Galaxy returned as a feature film in
2005 and though it did not go over as well, it has become somewhat of a cult
item. Garth Jennings directed from a
screenplay adaptation co-written by Adams and Karey Kirkpatrick, but the film
has a problem navigating the differences between British and American absurdity
while trying to juggle both. Martin
Freeman is Arthur Dent, who has been notified that the world will end soon,
saved from perishing with the planet by Ford Prefect (Mos Def) and using a book
called “Don’t Panic!”
He then
lands up dealing with a goof (Sam Rockwell) who claims to have created the
universe, a goofy emotional gal (Zooey Deschanel) and a manic depressive robot
(Alan Rickman voicing, Warwick “Willow”
Davis in the actual suit) searching for ultimate answers to life and
existence. Of course, this is a comedy
and not an exercise in anything resembling existential thought, with this
version more interested in being off-kilter than getting anywhere. As a result, it comes across more like Barry
Levinson’s Toys than the one film
that delivered in its absurdity: John
Boorman’s Zardoz.
If the
makers were expecting the audience to project the book into it or not care
about “details” or the link, than that was a commercial mistake. If it was to get people to read the book,
fine, but the film could have delivered much more than the final result did and
as I watched, I wondered if the delayed release had been edited down in some
erroneous way. Nevertheless, if you like
absurd Monty Python humor and Science Fiction, you should see this at least
once to see if you like it enough for yourself to add it to your favorites.
The 1080p
digital High Definition image is highly stylized, but beyond the crazy sets,
visual effects and amusing overuse of digital (on purpose?) we see some flaws
that make us think Disney did this in HD for HD channels to push it to its cult
and geek audience. Still, since the idea
of the misé-en-scene is to be somewhat junky like John Carpenter’s space comedy
Dark Star, the picture flaws are not
as consequential. The standard DVD (not
reviewed on the site) wisely featured a DTS 5.1 mix with its Dolby Digital 5.1
mix, but this Blu-ray replaces the DTS with PCM 16-bit/48kHz 5.1 that is just a
bit better and repeats the still inferior Dolby mix. The combination is better than standard DVD and
will keep fans happy, who are not looking for perfection in the first place.
Extras
include a feature length audio commentary by executive producer and Douglas
Adams' colleague Sean Solle, producer and actors, plus you get deleted scenes
including fake deleted scenes, a making of featurette, additional Guide entry, a sing-along and set-top
game: Marvin's Hangman. The video on the supplements are in HD.
- Nicholas Sheffo
