The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy parents guide

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Parent Guide

Overall B

Douglas Adams' quirky, creative and cheeky novels have been amusing sci-fi fans for years. Now Buena Vista Home Entertainment puts all of his out-of-this-world silliness onto DVD, so you can curse the whole universe without ever leaving the comfort of your couch.

Release date April 28, 2005

Violence B-
Sexual Content B+
Profanity B
Substance Use C+

Why is The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy rated PG? The MPAA rated The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy PG for thematic elements, action and mild language.

Run Time: 109 minutes

Parent Movie Review

If you aren’t familiar with The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, don’t panic and don’t be fooled. It is not a fact-based manual on how to navigate interplanetary and stellar byways. Rather, it’s a quirky, creative and cheeky sci-fi script based on the work of Douglas Adams.

Originally airing as a British radio show in the 1970s, the Guide became a kind of cultural phenomenon, which evolved into a TV program, computer game, stage show, record album, comic book and series of novels. It seems only fitting then that the big screen be the final frontier for the Guide to exploit.

The tale chronicles the misadventures of Arthur Dent (Martin Freeman), who is having a downer of a day. His house, set alongside the road in the empty and expansive British countryside, is about to be bulldozed to make way for a new thoroughfare. But unbeknownst to this average Englishman, things are only going to get worse. An alien ship is hovering overhead and preparing to destroy the Earth in order to make space to build a super highway for the cosmos.

Only moments before the imploding explosion, Arthur, dressed in his bathrobe and pajamas, is snatched to safety by his friend Ford Prefect (Mos Def). Flung into the nether parts of the universe, the travelers catch a ride on a Vogan spaceship. However, the blubbery, poetry-loving Vogans quickly prove to be inhospitable hosts and the two men are left thumbing for another form of transportation. Conveniently, Ford’s old friend, Zaphod Beeblebrox (Sam Rockwell), and his cohort, Trillian (Zooey Deschanel), pick up the hitchhikers.

Accompanied by a perpetually depressed robot named Marvin (voice by Alan Rickman), Zaphod and Trillian are on the run from Questular (Anna Chancellor) and the space police. Using a stolen vessel, they are heading for a far-flung planet in search of the ultimate meaning of life.

Ironically, ultimate meaning seems to be the elusive element in this film. In the style of Monty Python, the movie introduces outrageously eccentric characters, droll one-liners and completely improbable situations while taking a tongue-in-cheek poke at British bureaucracy. The plot often seems to meander along, merely looking for a chance to include some wildly weird event like a whale falling from the sky. Novices will find themselves especially disadvantaged when it comes to the inside jokes already familiar to the books’ fans.

Although the script contains relatively few concerns other than alcohol use and some highly stylized violence, some viewers may disagree with the film’s theory that God is not in charge of planetary creation.

On the whole, veterans who already have a Hitchhiker history will most likely appreciate these out-of-world adventures. But for newcomers like myself, there were challenges. After all, it’s a bit difficult to root for a hero in a housecoat.

Starring Warwick Davis, Mos Def, Zooey Deschanel. Running time: 109 minutes. Theatrical release April 28, 2005. Updated

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Parents' Guide

To enjoy humor, it’s necessary to have a deep understanding of the culture in which it exists. How may the British humor in this movie be difficult to appreciate if you don’t understand the nuances of living in the UK? How might comedy originating in the urban United States be just as “foreign” in another land?

In the movie, one character questions the meaning of normalcy. How does our perception of reality affect the way we define normal? How can your “normal” differ from someone else’s?

Think you’re a Hitchhiker expert? Check out these quizzes on the BBC site.

Home Video

The most recent home video release of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy movie is September 13, 2005. Here are some details…

If you’re planning to catch a ride through the solar system, make sure you don’t leave home without The Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Available in either wide or full screen versions, both offer deleted scenes, fake deleted scenes (way, way too-far-out outtakes), The Making of The Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and 2 Wholly Remarkable Audio Commentaries (featuring the executive producer and Sean Solle—a colleague of the book’s author, Douglas Adams—as well as the producer and actors). For a true out-of-this-world experience, the audio tracks are recorded in Dolby Digital 5.1.

Related home video titles:

Some unusual movies garner their own kind of fame among viewers who appreciate the quirky humor. Galaxy Quest (also starring Alan Rickman) pokes fun at Trekkie fans and former stars that appear to have lost touch with reality. Napoleon Dynamite became a kind of iconic champion for kids who had to endure the hazards of high school. Johnny English is another example of British comedy.

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