Movie Review – The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Directed by Garth Jennings

Starring Martin Freeman, Mos Def, Zooey Dechaniel, and Sam Rockwell, Warwick Davis, and the voices of Alan Rickman and Stephen Fry.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy was one of those books that was recommended to me by dozens of my friends ever since university.  As I prepared to depart for Japan, I finally bought a copy and read it while in the Far East.  Granted, I didn’t find it to be laugh-out-loud funny, but I did find it to be delightfully absurd.  You could officially brand me a “casual fan.”  So, I looked forward to the movie with great excitement.  Quite frankly, the book is rather un-filmable.  I was curious to see how they’d pull it off.

Arthur Dent (Freeman) could never get the hang of Thursdays.  It’s Thursday morning.  He’s still pining for Tricia McMillan (Dechaniel), a woman he met at a party several months ago, only to have her run off with some other guy.  His house is surrounded by bulldozers, as it is about to be demolished to make way for a new expressway.  His best friend Ford Prefect (Def) reveals himself to be an alien.  And then, the Earth is surrounded by a demolition crew, as it is about to be demolished to make way for a  hyperspace expressway.  So, Prefect and Dent hitch a ride aboard the demolition fleet, but very soon, they are rescued by Galactic President Zaphod Beeblebrox (Rockwell), Marvin the terminally depressed robot (body by Davis, voice by Rickman), and…Tricia, now going by the nickname “Trillian.”  Beebelbrox, you see, has stolen the most advanced starship ever built, and he’s off on a quest to find the Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything.  But, those evil Vogons are in hot pursuit.  Will they find the Answer?  Will Arthur ever admit his feelings for Trillian?  And what exactly did that bowl of petunias mean when it said, “Oh no.  Not again?”

This movie is pretty good, considering.  Granted, they had to make some very big changes in order to adapt for the big screen.  You can add me to the list of people who didn’t think that the Arthur/Trillian romance worked.  (In the book, it never elevates beyond casual flirting.)  Visually, it’s great.  The animated sequences representing the Guide are great, and the Vogons are very close to how I pictured them.  I found the film to be very much like the book:  not laugh-out-loud funny, but delightfully absurd.

3 Nibs

Meeting Totoro — Part II: I Wish I Could Stay Forever

When last we left our intrepid hero about a year ago, he was entering his final days in Japan. He knew it was now or never to visit the Studio Ghibli Museum; sacred ground for anime geeks as it’s a museum dedicated to the studio that’s made some of the best animation in the world. He braved the courage to ask the co-worker that didn’t like him for help in buying a ticket. From there, it was off to Mitaka and the museum. Sadly, he got lost in Mitaka and just about missed his entrance time to the museum. But, he got to the front gates just in the nick of time and entered the museum! And now, the conclusion….

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Frustration & Disappointment

Chaos in Print

Things were not going as planned. I sat and stared at my computer screen as power mysteriously stopped. Once again, my laptop had shut itself down halfway through a virus scan. This was the seventh time in as many weeks. Throw into that a general shitty week, followed by a weekend of introspection and the general grumbling of how I’m not where I intended to be in my life. I stared at the four bare walls of my apartment. I knew that if I didn’t get out, and soon, I would go mad. In previous years, I would go for a walk around the block or ride my bike aimlessly around town. But now, I have a car. With a full tank of gas. I jumped behind the wheel and set off down the road. I tried to fool myself by telling myself I had no idea where I was going, but I knew.

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