The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Buena Vista Pictures | Release Date: April 29, 2005 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
63
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 37 Critic Reviews
Positive:
29
Mixed:
7
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
83
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
They have been true to a classic source, using Adams' language and finding just the right actors, sets and costumes to flesh out his vision. Only the most persnickety cultist won't appreciate the effort. Read full review
80
L.A. WeeklyChuck Wilson
This very funny, very British movie -- directed by newcomer Garth Jennings -- has sci-fi effects that are impressive yet appropriately cheesy. Read full review
80
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
Mr. Jennings and Mr. Goldsmith have held onto a genuine sense of childlike wonder, which works as a nice corrective to what might otherwise come across as an overabundance of hip. Read full review
80
EmpireDan Jolin
Mostly harmless. A very British, very funny sci-fi misadventure that's guaranteed to win converts. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterMichael Rechtshaffen
Hits the screen with its disarmingly droll spirit quite intact. Read full review
75
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
It's a pleasure to see and hear so much wit in a big-budget comedy, and the fine British cast of supporting actors makes every bon mot a tasty verbal morsel. Read full review
75
New York PostKyle Smith
The film is a loopy, family-friendly jaunt, with a perfect "Wizard of Oz" finale that isn't in the book, but like the book, it suffers from a chronic plot malfunction. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
Wildly imaginative, humane, playful and deflating of all pretense. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
At selected moments the Pee Wee's Playhouse-scaled visual goofiness and flights of thespian bravura in this long-awaited movie adaptation of Douglas Adams' goofy-wise cult classic are in perfect celestial harmony with the existential tomfoolery of Adams' peerless (and peerlessly Monty Python-British) creation. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Go with the whimsical flow that includes a hilariously morose robot named Marvin, voiced by the great Alan Rickman with the weight of the galaxy resonating in every bored, cynical syllable. Adams would be pleased. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneRobert K. Elder
Even if this new version of "Hitchhiker" doesn't quite capture it all, you'll still want to stick your thumb out and catch a ride. Read full review
70
Washington PostDesson Thomson
This is a movie about improbability, randomness and absurdity. It almost goes without saying, you can't get in a panic about having everything. Read full review
70
SlateDavid Edelstein
An extremely pleasant, consistently amusing diversion that is never as uproarious as you might hope. But don't panic, as the Guide would say. In a pinch, it will do. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderAndrea Gronvall
The singing dolphins opener is a giddy prelude to an imaginative romp that's helped along in the slow patches by mind-bending visuals. Read full review
70
Film ThreatPete Vonder Haar
Too often, the movie follows up Adams’ chaotic humor with weak slapstick and the incongruous love story. Read full review
70
SalonStephanie Zacharek
Does so many things right, and still doesn't quite hit the mark. Read full review
70
The New YorkerAnthony Lane
The problem is not that the film debases the book but that movies themselves are too capacious a home for such comedy, with its tea-steeped English musings and its love of bitty, tangential gags. Read full review
70
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
Not every moment works, particularly in the draggy middle section, but the spirit of the thing still carries it along. Read full review
70
VarietyLeslie Felperin
More smile-inducing than laugh-aloud funny. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
It's nonstop chaos, and the everything-and-the-kitchen-sink style of comedy is taxing despite the frequent moments of pure comic genius. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Boasts a strong ensemble of performances. Martin Freeman is the perfect choice for an ordinary, unheroic Earth guy. Read full review
63
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
Except for the irritating Rockwell, the cast suits the characters. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
Lost in a time warp of its own doing (or non-doing), Hitchhiker's Guide just doesn't seem terribly original. Read full review
63
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
Part irritating, part inspired. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy Burr
Visually playful and often good fun, it never settles on a convincing narrative shape. Read full review
63
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
Most of the film is way too goofy for all but the most thumbstruck Hitchhiker. Read full review
63
PremiereAaron Hillis
An enjoyable mess that aimlessly goofs like "Men in Black" when its script calls for "Black Adder." Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
The charm of the movie's first 20 minutes soon turns shrill and manic, as invention is piled upon invention. Read full review
63
USA TodayMike Clark
Though the journey ends on some fun notes after a sagging middle, Galaxy never fully breaks out. Read full review
60
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Driven equally by big questions and the abiding desire for small pleasures, like a decent cup of tea, it's an eccentric, mind-bending head trip that greets every catastrophe with an endearingly goofy smile that embodies Hitchhiker's Guide's Zen mantra: Don't Panic! Read full review
50
Miami HeraldConnie Ogle
The film's opening credits are terrific, and the first 10 or 15 minutes -- in which Ford and Arthur speedily load up on beer at the local pub -- are absorbing and funny. It's such a promising start that it's doubly deflating to realize that once they land on Zaphod's spaceship, the humor vaporizes. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
There are some inspired off-the-wall moments, but they are more than offset by a pervasive aura of tedium and the lack of any sense of the forward momentum necessary to sustain an adventure of this kind. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
The movie was more of a revue than a narrative, more about moments than an organizing purpose, and cute to the point that I yearned for some corrosive wit from its second cousin, the Monty Python universe. Read full review
50
Washington PostTeresa Wiltz
Although "Hitchhiker" starts out a total gas, it doesn't have enough fuel to sustain the ride, ultimately amounting to little more than some amusing gags strung together in search of a story. Read full review
50
Village VoiceJessica Winter
Studiously harmless, Disney's long-in-development film rendition pasteurizes the book's renegade verve with typical means. Read full review
40
Dallas ObserverRobert Wilonsky
The droll has been made dull, a most inexplicable and unfortunate turn of events for so adored a genius, goofball work as this. Read full review
25
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Amiably bland actors can be fun to watch, as Tom Hanks has proved. Freeman is no Hanks, though, and The Hitchhiker's Guide won't boost anyone's career into hyperspace. Or give your mind a workout. Read full review
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