Touchstone Movie   •••½ Picture/Sound   •••• Extras   •••

Director Garth Jennings has plenty of fun with author Douglas Adams’s hipster humor and the high-concept escapades of his funky crew of space trippers. Playing nice and loose is a great cast that includes Sam Rockwell, Mos Def, Alan Rickman, Helen Mirren, and John Malkovich. The THX-certified picture looks great, with lots of detail where it’s needed. You can see every crease and bulge in the faces and bodies of every odd creature, and the titular galaxy shimmers appropriately. The 5.1-channel sound has plenty of movement at the front and sides of the soundstage and big, bass-heavy effects in the surround channels. Extras include two commentaries, a making-of featurette, real and fake deleted scenes, a goofy sing-along segment, and a couple of cute surprises. [PG] English, Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1; French and Spanish, Dolby Surround; letterboxed (2.35:1) and anamorphic widescreen; dual layer.