The story: Earthman Arthur Dent (Martin Freeman, doing a more manic version of his character from "The Office") finds out that his friend, Ford Prefect (Mos Def), is a hitchhiking alien conveniently right before the earth is destroyed by the Vogon alien race to make for a hyperspace expressway. Whisked away right before the earth's destruction, they join up with the two-headed President of the Galaxy (an over-the-top Sam Rockwell), a depressed robot (Warwick Davis, voice of Alan Rickman), and Arthur's girl-who-got-away (Zooey Deschanel) on a quest to find the answer (or is it the question?) to life, the universe, and everything.

Essentially, if that plot summary made you smile, then you are probably a good candidate for HGTTG. If not, then you will probably view this movie as a large waste of your time. Credit should be given to the film for being so visually appealing (with extra kudos going to the Jim Henson Creature Shop for their flawless puppetry work, which is lightyears better than the cheap CGI that could've been employed). Overall, HGTTG is a mixed bag--It's very devoted to its source, and fans should rejoice. But, for non-fans, that kind of loyalty isn't always necessarily the best thing.

Extras: The DVD package for the film includes a modest amount of extras. The film is accompanied by two audio commentaries, one with the director and cast, the other with the executive producer and a Douglas Adams expert. Both commentaries are worth a listen, although the director-cast commentary sometimes falls into the trap of just describing what's on the screen (not to mention Freeman's fascination with how ugly he thinks he is in the film). Also included are a few deleted scenes, two much more entertaining "Really Deleted Scenes" (basically, little comic examples of how the movie could have been less loyal to its source), a perfunctory making-of featurette, and a couple of fairly worthless games.