Review of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005) by Amit M — 21 May 2011

I've seen this movie many times, and saw it again on a plane last week. I'm a fan of the series of books on which it is based, and recognize that it would be difficult to appreciate this work if you didn't already understand the very British, very quirky humor of the source material. (Fans of the U.S television series "The Office" should know that Martin Freeman, who plays the protagonist Arthur Dent here, played the equivalent of the Jim character in the original British version.).

And as a fan of the books, I can say that they nailed it. In fact, they did much better than my imagination. In particular, Sam Rockwell's portrayal of Zaphod Beeblebrox (okay, I think I just lost some folks) is inspired, and the way they handled his two heads is genius. The rest of the cast â" including Mos Def as Arthur's friend Ford Prefect, who is not from Guildford, Zooey Deschanel as galaxy-hopping human Trillian, and Alan Rickman as the voice of Marvin the Paranoid Android â" is simply perfect.