DaViD Boulet
Senior HTF Member
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The Hitchhiker's Guide
To The Galaxy
Studio:TOUCHSTONE (Buena Vista) Year:2005 RunTime:109 minutes Rating:PG Aspect Ratio:16 x 9 encoded 2.35:1 (OAR) Warning: Separate P/S version available…beware when ordering and give strict widescreen instruction for gift buying! Audio:5.1 DD English, 5.1 DTS English, French, Spanish SpecialFeatures:Commentary, making-of featurette, Deleted Scenes, more... ReleaseDate:September 13, 2005
The Show...
I’ll confess right up that I don’t quite “get” this movie. I come to this film with the disadvantage (I’m assuming it's a disadvantage) that I’m not familiar with the book upon which the film is based. Add to that the off-beat British humor and perhaps this is an unprofitable combination for this particular American viewer. However, there have been many other films based on cultish book material (Sin City) that I found very accessible without being a prior fan of the material, and there are also a host of British films that thrive on off-beat humor that entertain me immensely (Holy Grail, Time Bandits, etc.). My first impression is that The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is a well conceived idea that didn’t quite translate to the screen as well as its creative team expected. However, there is a wide range of opinions about this film and while I don’t want to discourage anyone from watching it who might enjoy it (or offend those who do), neither do I want to give anyone false expectations who might react to it the same way that I did.
Regardless of whether or not you may consider this to be a “good” film in total, it has some definite qualities to be admired. Firstly, without a doubt it is a visual masterpiece—painting a strange/surreal yet tangibly material world that you feel you can reach out and touch. I have no hesitation to compare this film with Time Bandits or Baron Munchausen in that regard; it feels very much like those Terry Gilliam adventures I found myself searching the credits to find evidence of his involvement. Much of this “gritty” feel of tangible materialism comes from the film makers' (director Garth Jennings) minimal reliance on CGI character animation in favor of puppetry…assisted by the Henson folks. This was the right decision…the aliens look fantastic and have a palpable believability to them (touchability to them) that would have completely vanished with Jar-Jar CGI cartoonism. This film is eye-candy to be sure, and I found myself mesmerized in many scenes…just staring at the gorgeous 2.35:1 visuals on my 106” screen in child-like wonder.
In fact, for the first 30 minutes or so I found myself intrigued beyond my expectations…amazed that such a gem had escaped my interest during its theatrical run. However, about 45 minutes into the film, for me personally, the developing characters began to feel “flat” and the humor wandered from “off beat British humor” to culturally independent “hokey”. It got so tediously, eye-rollingly bad for me and my roommate that we actually reached a point we couldn’t endure the experience any longer and started up another movie (I finished watching the film later for the review making liberal use of the FF on the remote). Your mileage may vary, and I don’t mean to pass judgment on those of you who found the film enjoyable from beginning-to-end…I well admit that I probably just “don’t get” this film. But I would venture to say that if you haven’t already seen this film (and aren't convinced you would want to own it regardless--such as if you’re a fan of the story and would want to have this DVD in your library even if you didn’t discover it to be your personal cup of tea), I wouldn’t suggest a blind-buy. This might be a good “rent with the option to own” title if you’ve got the option.
Picture...
Outstanding. Really, really beautiful. I could hardly believe that I was watching a live-action DVD title produced by the Buena Vista folks (hopefully this is a sign of better things to come from the studio…though this DVD bears the TOUCHSTONE logo which I’ve noticed typically do look better than “DISNEY” labeled BV titles). Black level is rock solid, contrast is dynamic with stunning shadow detail, and this rich, 3-dimensional image has sumptuous colors that never over, or under, saturate on the screen. Just gorgeous. And most importantly the level of fine detail is just wonderful. Not quite as razor-sharp as the best Warner Brother’s DVDs, but very natural, film-like, and satisfying. Not once did I get that “it looks too soft” or “It looks too filtered” feeling…this picture has snap even when stretched over a 106” canvas.
Any sign of edge ringing also appeared minimal (though occasionally did see something that looked EE-ish from time to time but it never distracted from my 1.6 screen-widths viewing distance). Color banding and MPEG noise was nowhere to be seen. Folks…this is a great transfer. Those of you who are fans of the film have nothing to hear. Those of you with wide-angle/big-screen displays, I’d love to hear your own impressions.
Picture Quality: 4.75 / 5
:star: :star: :star: :star: :star:
Rating Rationale...
In the past I think I've been too ambiguous with my scoring or at least haven't applied it consistently from title to title, so I've endeavored to define my rating system more clearly to help make the scoring more meaningful (for all titles reviewed December 2004 and later):
Rating Key:
SCORE Description 1-2 An absolute abomination. Hurts to watch. Think "Outland" (scan-line aliasing, chroma noise, dotcrawl)-- truly horrid. 2-3 Has some serious problems, but one can at least watch it without getting a headache despite all the problems though you might try to talk your guests into picking a different movie to watch if you have a large projection screen. Think Cold Mountain. 3-4 Good or at least "acceptable" on a big-screen, but not winning any awards and definitely room for improvement if you view the image wide-angle (though smaller-screen viewers may be quite content). Think the first extended cut of Fellowship of the Ring...decent picture but still some HF filtering and some edge-halos. 4-5 A reference picture that really makes the most of the DVD medium and shows extraordinary transparency to the film-source elements. Non-videophile observers can't help but remark "WOW". Think The Empire Strikes Back, the Fifth Element Superbit (full “5” would be sans EE), or the new Toy Story 10th Anniversary Edition.
Viewing Equipment:
Currently running DVDs on my OPPO DVD player (Faroudja deinterlacing) which scales to 720P, feeding my BenQ 8700+ PJ via DVI, projecting onto a 106” 16x9 Dalite HiPower screen, viewed from approximately 1.6 screen-widths distance. Well mastered DVDs produce a stunningly film-like image in this scenario, and lesser-mastered material quickly shows its flaws.
Sound...
Both a 5.1 English Dolby Digital and DTS mix are provided and they sound superb. The first think you may notice is the prodigious bass in this mix…it’s not shy and at times it shakes the room. However, the bass is always controlled and “audiophile-quality” tight and tonal. The audio mix also does an outstanding job throwing a nice 360 degree soundstage…surround use is much better-than-average… active or ambient given the appropriate context of the scene. The surrounds produce a great job of “dissolving” the sense of front/rear and just extending the envelop of sound to fill the room. The musical score is also well recorded as are many sound effects…rather than everything sounding placed right in the axis of the front speakers there’s a tangible sense of “space” in this mix that moves sounds far left, right, and back behind the speakers giving a deep and holographic soundstage. This is the way more movies ought to be recorded…it lacks the “over dubbed” character of most modern films that have all their effects and dialogue close-mic recorded and just pasted over the audio without any real context of acoustical space. On the contrary, even the dialogue in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy has a tangible sense of acoustic space that made me wonder if much of it was recorded on set. In any case, the audio mixer deserves some recognition for this great work.
Perhaps the only criticism I have is that some of the dialogue appeared to lack “focus” and I had to turn up my center channel a tad to feel like I was hearing everything distinctly. This was more pronounced with the DTS mix…which reminded me of the character of the dialogue in the DTS mix on the Return of the King Extended Edition DVD (which sounds a tad less defined, though more natural, than the DD mix). Which reminds me…we’ve got DTS on this disc. The difference between the two mixes is subtle…the dialogue perhaps having the most obvious effect to my ears. But I will say that after some careful A/B switching (not scientific so don’t get all huffy) the musical score definitely sounded a bit smoother and more naturally rendered in the DTS mix. The low-level resolution of the audio of the DTS just sounds more refined to my ears. However, if you find the dialogue difficult to understand and turning your center channel up doesn’t fix the issue, I suggest you try the Dolby Digital mix and see if you prefer it.
Sound Quality: 4.75 / 5
:star: :star: :star: :star: :star:
Special Features...
[*]Commentary:There are two. The first is with Director Garth Jennings, producer Nick Goldsmith, and several of the actors. It’s more of a laugh-along free-form conversation where they have fun and cut up with each other for the 109 minutes…though mixed in you’ll find the occasional anecdote worth remembering. There is a definitely feel of “Monty Python” to this commentary style so if that’s your bag you’ll enjoy it.
The second commentary track is with producer Robbie Stamp and Douglas Adams’ colleague Sean Solle. This is your typical (good) commentary that entails a more serious discussion about making the film, shooting the scenes, picking the characters and creating the effects. If you’re interesting in the making-of stuff behind the movie this is the commentary track you want to check out. Like most of Buena Vista’s commentaries, you can access both easily just by toggling through your audio options while the disc is in play.
[*]Deleted Scenes: Just a handful…captured on “video” in 4x3 lbxed form. Half of them are categorized as “really deleted scenes” and are really bloopers more than deleted scenes. Check ‘em out.
[*]Making of:A great featurette with the usual “it was such a wonderful experience” mantra by all the actors and creative team…but some great insights to the special effects and details with the Henson Creature-shop work on the Aliens (would have loved even more). Definitely more than a mere publicity piece…every one who watches the movie should take the time (less than 10 minutes) to check this out.
[*]Game:A hang-man game that fans might enjoy testing their knowledge of film trivia. Personally, I want to see that robot HANG so I was happy to lose.
[*]Additional Guide Entry:An odd little skit attempting to logically argue why God does not exist. It bases its conclusion on the assumption that God intended for the necessity of Faith to Prove his/her existence, which sort of zips by the listener unnoticed. I don’t remember God ever making it plain that he/she intended for philosophy to “prove” his/her existence to begin with…so how can that be decided as a given place to start the argument? Watch the short and maybe what I’m saying will make sense in the context of this brain-puzzle. Not intending to get too philosophical here but partial or avoidance-tactic logic always gets on my nerves.
[*]Sing Along:A sing-along music video of the dolphin song (4x3 lbx). Cute for those who are entertained by this off-beat sense of humor...
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All Together...
Ok…bottom line. Fans: rejoice. This DVD presentation is gorgeous…both picture and sound are exemplary and the bonus features are “decent” for a single-disc presentation. Those of you who haven’t seen the movie…this is one that I’m not going to go out on a limb and suggest you blind-buy…I’d recommend determining whether you like the movie enough to invest in a purchase before you plunk down the cash. If you’re curious, definitely give this one a rent. But as far as the DVD presentation is concerned, this is a great effort from Buena Vista and fans should be well pleased.
Your discussion is invited…
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