The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005)

I haven't read the series yet, but thought the movie had a number of really funny moments. Gotta say that the blonde dude reminded me of an awesome combo of Owen Wilson and the drummer from The Foo Fighters. They were both so robbed - one of them could've been perfect for that role! Anyhow, I found that the actual overarching plot was not as interesting as the individual moments throughout. Overall, it was pretty good - loved this style of comedy!

I'm surprised that this movie has so many bad reviews. This movie is pretty loyal to the book. Its extremely entertaining with well-acted characters and well-timed jokes. The cinematography, effects, and costumes are all fantastic. I don't see anything wrong with this movie, and am confused as to why other reviews are calling them boring.

It is a little known fact that hiring hip music video directors is unlikely to result in a successful interpretation of a a popular 70s comedic novel. The Encyclopaedia Galactica defines the creators of this mess as "a bunch of tedious jerks who wouldn't know a punchline if it was written on the forehead of a ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal"

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a film that compliments the book series very well. The cast is well chosen, the story is brilliant, and it's a funny film that really brings out the best of Douglas Adams' famous series. For the most part, if you've read the first book you'll be up to speed, though it's worth reading the rest. The film features Arthur Dent, whose home is demolished one terrible morning, to make way for a road bypass. Only minutes later is planet Earth destroyed, to make way for a galactic bypass. And so begins a long story of whacky space adventures that take its characters on a journey literally out of this world. There are four main characters that are the premise for this film. Zaphod Beeblebrox (Sam Rockwell) an egotistic two-headed President of the Galaxy, is on a quest to find the Ultimate Question. Ford Prefect (Mos Def), named after a car he almost got ran over by, is a friendly alien from a planet in the vicinity of Beetleguese. Tricia McMillan (Zooey Deschanel) is the love interest of the movie, a notable difference to the book that I will mention later. And of course, we cannot forget Arthur Dent (Martin Freeman), an ordinary man from England who has been thrust into the perils of his Galaxy. While Marvin (Warwick Davis), the chronically depressed robot, is quite a major character, he doesn't see that much screen time. The film paces itself really well, and I think the first scene prior to the destruction of Earth is very well made, setting the film up for a thrilling adventure. Interjections from none other than master narrator Stephen Fry help jog the story along, by adding little anecdotes of information from the novels. The cast is fairly well chosen, especially in Martin Freeman, who portrays the often-frustrated but overall-caring character of Arthur Dent so brilliantly. There doesn't seem to have been any purpose in Questular Rontok (Anna Chancellor), but each actor is almost a direct match to the characters in the novels. That is, except Trillian.Trillian is overall a fairly minor character in the novels, however it was interestingly chosen to push her more into the limelight, giving her a presence in a love triangle between Arthur and Zaphod. It was clever to do this, but fans of the series may be disappointed to see a whole new story arc introduced purely for the purposes of romance (although I wasn't). The story of the Vogans in the series feels wholly incomplete, so it seems wise that it was resolved in the movie. On the whole, the film intertwined plots from the novels ingeniously, adding what seems necessary here and there. It seems the ending on Magrathea was a little unusual, but on the whole it completes the movie decently enough. This is a film that, to use Adams' quote, has made a lot of people very angry, and even been regarded as a bad move. Perhaps these people should take into account that many of the differences between the book and movie were written in by Douglas Adams himself, prior to his death. On the whole, it's mostly harmless, and certainly worth a watch. I certainly enjoyed it; it really compliments the novels very well. Arthur Dent, and for that matter all the characters, are brilliantly acted out. The plot is to be commended for the most part, and the introduction of a romance that really supports Arthur as a character is on the whole satisfying.If you've read the series you have to watch the movie. And if you haven't, it's still definitely worth a see.