It's been a long time since I've seen the 2005 adaptation of the Douglas Adams book. My initial memory of the film was that it was generally enjoyable, but otherwise somewhat forgettable. What's nice is that Douglas Adams did have something of a role in writing the screenplay though he died several years before production. Though there are a good number of story and plot elements that were not in the book, the tone and sense of humor are fairly consistent.
The film starts with a goofy musical number sung by all of the dolphins in the world. "Thanks for all the Fish" is a good way to begin the film and set the tone. This is going to be a goofy British sci-fi comedy. It generally follows the same story of the book: Ford Prefect rescues his Earth friend Arthur Dent just before the planet is destroyed to make way for an intergalactic bypass (similar to how Arthur's house was unceremoniously destroyed for a bypass). They then find themselves aboard the Heart of Gold spaceship, a state of the art ship powered by an improbability drive, stolen by galactic president Zaphod Beeblebrox. Zaphod and his Earth-fling Trillian. Together with Marvin the depressed robot, Ford, Zaphod, Arthur, and Trillian search for the super computer Deep Thought, which once upon a time was constructed to find the answer for Life, the Universe, and Everything in it. The answer, as is well known, was "42," which annoyed and frustrated everyone in the universe. Another super computer was built to figure out the ultimate question to the ultimate answer. Turns out that Earth was that super computer.
The visual style of the film is a much appreciated change of pace from the typical sci-fi films. Instead of relying so heavily on computer graphics, they utilizes rubber suits and actors inside them. With Henson's Creature Shop, the film has a visual look not unlike The Fifth Element which further solidifies it's humorous tone. There is, of course, a good amount CGI as well, particularly when Slartibartfast shows Arthur around the rebuilt Earth. It's visually refreshing to see so much "analogue" effects.
Overall, the film isn't all that funny. There are the classic moments from the book, such as the sperm whale randomly being conjured up in the sky, and some of the entries in the Hitchhiker's Guide itself. It's not a hilarious film, but it has its laughs. The scene on the Vogons' homeworld in which a sentient flyswatter slaps them if they get any ideas is silly and simple, but is effectively very funny.
The draw to the film is in the cast. For a film that often gets ignored or forgotten, it has one of the best casts one can imagine. Martin Freeman is the perfect Arthur Dent while Mos Def is awesome as Ford Prefect. (Mos Def is clearly the best actor/rapper out there.) Adding to it is Sam Rockwell, who is brilliant in the role of galactic president Zaphod Beeblebrox, seemingly mixing the swagger of both Elvis Presley and at the time president George W. Bush. Alan Rickman is perfectly cast as the voice of Marvin the constantly depressed robot, whose body language is well performed by Warwick Davis despite a huge and bulky suit. The weak link of the main cast might be TV sweetheart Zooey Deschanel, who is a bit underwhelming though still solid as Trillian. It doesn't just stop there though. Helen Mirren gives voice to the super computer Deep Thought. Bill Nighy shows up at the end as Slartibartfast. John Malkovich has a memorable scene as former president Humma Kavula. For more keen nerds, the voice of Bill Bailey appears briefly, voicing the internal monologue of the doomed whale. Thomas Lennon (of "Reno 911" fame) also appears as the voice of the Heart of Gold's computer, cheerfully and amusingly announcing things like oncoming missiles. And then of course, in another perfectly cast role, Stephen Fry gives voice to the actual Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which is often accompanied by visually interesting animations. (And to the really keen observer, Edgar Wright and Jason Schwartzman can be found briefly.)
It's not a perfect film, and it fails to capture some of the charm from the book, but it's still largely similar. There's no real reason if one likes the book, one would dislike the film adaptation. Perhaps you might not like the way they dealt with Zaphod's two heads (it's a lot different than I imagined, and different than how the BBC series depicted it), and certainly the unresolved plot lines linger at the end. It does finish feeling like a sequel is in order. Still, it was a lot better than I remembered it being, and I actually feel a little bit bad that I always forget about it. Perhaps it's not worth going out and buying, but it's worth a replay every once in a while.
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