Galaxy film declared best of the year

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Director: Garth Jennings

Cast: Martin Freeman, Zooey Deschanel, Mos Def, Sam Rockwell, Bill Nighy, John Malkovich, Anna Chancellor

Finally the cult BBC Radio, TV, stage show, CD, book, comic-strip and, even, towel tale of the hapless Arthur Dent, sole survivor of a demolished Earth, and his zany journey around the Galaxy comes to the big screen; and already it's been declared the best of this year's films.

It was never going to be easy to capture on the large screen the comic imagination of the late Douglas Adams's story of the pyjama-clad Dent and the decidedly curious collection of characters he meets around the stars, but Jennings does it to perfection, aided by a terrific central performance from Freeman, star of the hit TV series The Office.

You don't even have to be a Hitchhiker's nerd to enjoy the film - OK, so it helps - since it stands on its own as a crazy rollercoaster. If you are an anorak of the story in its various forms there is no reason to fear the cinema treatment, it is a lovingly-constructed tribute to Adams's fertile imagination.

In short, it's an absolute hoot! And you will even find out the meaning; to life, the universe and everything.

Star Rating: 5/5