SOME people no doubt think that the science fiction event of the year takes place on May 19 when the new Star Wars film is released.

Others may believe it to be later in the summer when Steven Spielberg gives us his version of War Of The Worlds.

But when it comes to cult sci fi, April 29, 2005, (that's today), may prove to be an historic date. The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy is here.

This eagerly anticipated comedy has been at the forefront of British science fiction since Douglas Adams's story began life as a radio series, the popularity of that leading to a book and TV serial.

It was only a matter of time before it hit the big screen, although the length of time it took, considering the advances in special effects, is surprising.

And even those of us who have not been fans in the past will be familiar with names such as Arthur Dent, Zaphod Beeblebrox and Slartibartfast, all dreamt up by Adams's clearly wild imagination.

Earthling Arthur (Freeman) is about to see his world come to an end in more ways than one.

Bulldozers have arrived on his doorstep to demolish his home to make way for a new bypass.

And then his best friend Ford Prefect (Def) arrives with possibly even more devastating news the world itself is really about to end, but by way of some nifty hi-tech hitch-hiking, Ford (who isn't human after all) manages to whisk Arthur to safety with seconds to spare.

Which is how Arthur, clad in pyjamas and dressing gown, finds himself experiencing a bizarre inter-galactic adventure.

On the way he meets the aforementioned Zaphod (Rockwell), the president of the galaxy, his paranoid android Marvin (played by Warwick Davis, voiced by Alan Rickman), and Trillian (Deschanel), a fellow human being who just may be the girl of Arthur's dreams.

The sophistication of the effects we are now used to in the likes of Star Wars and Lord Of The Rings is absent In The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, but that is the point. The aliens are supposed to look rubbery, slimy and silly and while the spaceships may look like they come straight from a kid's comic book, that doesn't mean to say the guys in the computer generated imagery department didn't have their work cut out for them. The scene which sees four of the main characters suddenly become little animated woollen people is as strange as it is funny not least the bit when Arthur throws up woollen vomit.

But as clever as the effects are, they never distract the audience from the story, which is very funny and very weird, and when you think about it, quite poignant too, not least because Adams never lived to see his story become a movie.

Among the cast, Martin Freeman has shaken off the shackles of Tim from The Office to make a believable if unusual leading man, an everyman hero who saves the world (sort of) and gets the girl.

But this is very much an ensemble effort, with great turns from Rockwell, Def, Deschanel, Nighy and even John Malkovich, as well as vocal duties from Helen Mirren and the ubiquitous Stephen Fry, who narrates superbly.

7/10

Stephen Webb