Just got back from a preview of the feature film version of THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY, and I have to say that seeing the familiar story played out on a big screen was a like a dream come true. If you're a fan of the radio plays and novels by Douglas Adams, you will be pleased to see that most of your favorite comic bits have survived intact. This is a glossy Hollywood movie, with lots of special effects, but the British sense of humor shines through.

So I'm sure the film will be a hit with fans. As for non-fans, I'm not so sure. The audience reaction was favorable but not overwhelming. Some of the dry humor -- and even some of the more obvious farce -- seemed to pass by without the laughter one would expect.

For instance, the film begins with a hilarious musical comedy routine -- a song based on the famous line from the books "So long, and thanks for all the fish -- which consists of footage of dolphins performing a series of synchronized acrobatic stunts while the lyrics tell us what these gestures are trying to communicate to the stupid humans who just think they're performing tricks in order to earn another treat. As the song reaches a crescendo, the dolphins leap from the water -- up into the starry sky -- and do not come back down (because they are abandoning the doomed planet). It's a great visual and the perfect punchline to a very funny sequence, and yet few joined me in laughing out loud.

As for the rest of the film, it hews reasonably close to the source material, except that co-writer Karey Kilpatrick has tried to sew together the anarchic bits and pieces into a conventional plot structure. Part of the fun of HITCHHIKERS was that you never knew where it was going, because Adams would abandon ideas before they could wear out their welcome and just jump into something new, following odd tangents that always took the story into funny new places.

The script on the other hand sets the plot up as a conventional quest: the characters have to go find something and bring it back to someone who wants it. And the character of Trillian has been expanded into a romantic interest for Arthur Dent, providing a cpnventional love story that plays out against the backdrop of the galaxy.

Despite these attempts at structure, the film never really works up a head of steam. It remains a collection of very funny sketches, and the plot thread never really engages us; it just works as an excuse to tie these scenes together -- an excuse that really isn't necessar, because the scenes are usually funny enough to justify their own existence, apart from any "story development" they provide.

The other weakness of the film -- and this was apparent in the British television series, as well -- is that the material really was perfectly suited for radio, where the narration, dialogue, and sound effects allowed listeners to imagine what was happening. Much of the deadpan narration has been retained, with its humor intact, but visually the film has a hard time finding images to play counterpoint to the audio. Usually, the film relies on simple computer graphics (meant to represent animation seen in the titular guidebook); at other times, the narration simply plays out over non-descript action that feels a bit like filler -- something to keep the screen from going blank while we listen to the funny words.

So, it's not a perfect film, but it is still a very good one -- and one that nods affectionately toward the original HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE, as when Simon Jones (who played Arthur Dent on the radio and television) briefly appears as a holographic communication.

And just for the record, here are my favorite bits that did not make it into the film:

1. Arthur's awe, while standing upon an alien planet, at realizing he is the first human ever to set foot on its surface, followed by his matter-of-fact assesment of this strange new world: "A bit of a dump."

2. Arthur's reaction upon being told by Ford Prefect that they are "safe" aboard a Vogon battleship: "This is obviously some new definition of the word safe with which I have been previously unfamiliar."

3. The sly use of "Shine On, You Crazy Diamond" as background music: "Has anyone besides me noticed that robot humming like Pink Floyd?" asks Arthur.

4. The convoluted argument that the Babel fish provides the ultimate proof against the existence of God (to wit, it's impossible for the fish to have evolved naturally, so it seems like it would prove God's existence; but God wants people to accept his existence on Faith alone, so he wouldn't have provided such proof; hence, the fish proves that God doesn't exist, and God goes up in a poof of logic).

On the other hand, against these few disappointments, you have to weight the thrill of hearing "Journey of the Sorcerer" -- the famous  HITCHHIKER's theme music (originally recorded for an Eagles album) -- blasted out of the theatre speakers in glorious stereophonic sound.