Movie Review: Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

OK, if you haven't seen this movie yet: What the FK is wrong with you? This epic adaptation of Douglas Adams 5 book trilogy (that's right, I said 5 book trilogy) begins, as the book does, with unsuspecting commoner Arthur Dent (Martin Freeman - best know for his role in the British version of The Office) in his bathrobe and jammies about 20 minutes before the end of the World. Luckily, unbeknownst to him, his best friend Ford Prefect (Mos Def) is actually an alien who is hip to the pending Planetary annihilation. Prefect, well versed in the ways of galactic hitchhiking, solicits them both a ride off the planet just in the nick of time.

This movie is full of surprising performances by relatively unknown or (thought to be) unqualified actors. The surprise of the movie to me was Mos Def who played the character of Ford perfectly. Furthermore, Freeman's Arthur Dent and Zooey Deschanel's "Trillion" were so spectacularly bland that you couldn't help but love them. The other two break-out performances for me were Sam Rockwell's "Zaphod Beeblebrox" and Alan Rickman as the self loathing robot Marvin.

Garth Jennings took great risks in the direction of this movie that paid off beyond anything I could have imagined. Early on, Jennings decided to keep the CGI to a minimum and utilize as many "classic" special effects and camera tricks as he could. Seeing this movie made me realize everything that's wrong with the new Star Wars that was right with the old Star Wars. Using everything from men in creature costumes, puppets, and even claymation this movie is campy yet classic. CGI was applied when appropriate, but by no means over used.

PLEASE go see this movie, you will laugh your ass off... I promise!

I give this movie a rating of 4 blue percent signs, a red asterisk, and 3 green exclamation points:

% % % % * ! ! !