Well, the kids and I (along with Ray, Michelle, and Kayla), went to see a couple of movies at the drive-in movie theater tonight. We saw The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and The Pacifier. First, The Hitchhiker's Guide. Now, I went into this assuming that it wouldn't be just like the book. I also assumed that some plot elements would need to be changed to abbreviate the movie some. Basically, as big a fan of the book(s) as I am, I assumed I'd hate this movie. The good news? I didn't hate it, per se, but I think they could have done a better job overall. First, let me talk about what they did right: Martin Freeman was a PERFECT Arthur Dent. He played him as intelligent, but in a constantly flustered state throughout the movie VERY well. Mos Def, despite my strong opinions on the subject of a black Ford Prefect, was a very, very well played Ford. His lines were delivered brilliantly, and he was very, from a personality standpoint, true to the book. Pretty much all of the acting was great; Zooey Deschanel was a great Tricia McMillan/Trillian, Alan Rickman was the perfect voice for Marvin, and Sam Rockwell's Zaphod Beeblebrox was pretty darn good (despite the southern accent and the two head issue. I really enjoyed that, much like every other version of this work, it was NOT the same as previous works. Specifically, the books differed from the original radio shows, which differed from later radio shows, which differed from the BBC series, which was not the same as the 1981 move... none of which is the same as the video game. And now, collectively, they're all not exactly the same as the current movie. In all... a great, funny flick. My problems? There were a couple of things VERY well described in the book. The ship, the heart of gold, was described as resembling a shoe...what kind of freaky-assed shoe is this? C'mon here. Also, Zaphod is clearly described as having two heads, side by side (they look at each other, etc)... and a third arm directly below one of his other (I believe his right) arms. So why was one head on his NECK and the damned third arm in his chest? Annoying. Those are my only real complaints. If you're into the books... see the movie. If you're not... you might still like it very much. Oh, and The Pacifier is an excellent movie to see with your kids. My son was INTO it...and it's pretty cute overall.