Let's see those thumbs!

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy will definitely go down as one of the oddest films released by a major studio in 2005, which is a good thing since the movie itself is a little less than the sum of its parts.

If greatness is out of reach then it's better to be weird than boring.

Based on the celebrated novel by Douglas Adams which I own but have never read, Hitchhiker's is full of clever ideas and visuals and boasts an unusually sly wit (enough to make it unique among Hollywood comedies). It is, when all is said and done, quite British. Although I have a feeling there were at least some attempts by Disney to water it down (and I hope it was the studio, not the director, who insisted on the overbearing and annoying score), what's on screen will likely come off as rather peculiar to most audiences. Whether they like it or not is another matter.

I liked it. I think a lot of the credit for that goes to Martin Freeman, Sam Rockwell and Mos Def who each inject their offbeat and vastly different senses of humor into their inspired characters. Acting props also go to Bill Nighy and the voice of Alan Rickman but unfortunately the film makes little use of Zooey Deschanel, a leading lady who would seem perfectly suited for this kind of thing. I don't know if blame for that starts with the novel or not.

There's also much to appreciate in the film's creative special effects and production design as well as comedy that manages to be both absurd and philosophical at once. I suspect a lot of that credit belongs with Adams.

The director, Garth Jennings, is making his feature film debut and it's certainly not a bad way to start. He has many commercials and music videos under his belt (including Blur's absolutely brilliant "Coffee and TV" clip) and apparently is responsible for the opening credits of Da Ali G Show. The material was once offered to Spike Jonze, who instead recommended Jennings.

It will be very interesting to see exactly where Jennings goes next. If he stays in the studio world Hollywood might be a slightly more interesting place.