You'll never like a movie that you read the book earlier;
well not if you liked the book (which is essential for watching the movie I guess

)
Anyways,
I actually liked the movie to some degree..
it was entertaining.
No it did NOT do the book justice, but for an hour and a half it was better than most of the other stuff on free tv
'sid
'Sid, while you're right about most movie's never living up to the book they're based on, my complaint about Disney's hack job was based on the original video series; a classic case in point was the first episode, just after the Earth had been demolished; Aurthur Dent has just regained consciousness, and then his friend, Ford Prefect, tries to give him a crash course on how to survive in the great big universe, including how to use the "Hitchhikers Guide".
'Sid, I was only able to last about ~20 minutes into the movie, before I had to apologize to my relatives that I was visiting, and head back to the hotel to be ill..... If it gave you some chuckles, great. If you ever find the original BBC video series on disc to rent (that's how I found it was available; I couldn't place my order fast enough after watching it for the first time in almost 2 1/2 decades), do it. You will be amazed at what they did back then, and the humor, while still campy, can still make you grin today...
It was about this time after the travesty came out that I had my family grumbling because I refused to watch a movie that was worse than horrible, I think I'm going to break out the originals.... Maybe I'll even offer to share with the tribe here in town this year...
Oh, and 'Sid? I didn't find out about the books until I had seen the original TV series; Douglas Adams didn't start writing until after the series was several years old...

Pat
PS; Has anyone seen the thread this was supposed to be?