THIS summer of the superfans will see the latest offering from George Lucas, Christian Bale's new version of Batman and the remake of Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory run the gauntlet of public opinion on whether or not they've murdered a legend.

First up, though, is director Garth Jennings (who was behind Blur's amazing Coffee and TV video) with the 25-years-in-the-making film version of Douglas Adams' beloved British sci-fi classic, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

When the details of this project were initially revealed, the ructions over the internet were astonishingly vitriolic. But this new movie is for a wider audience than just Adams devotees.

It's for a whole new generation - those who do not remember the television or radio treatments, and most probably have never read the, oft-times bizarre, novels. As such, the producers have tried to make it work for them as well as the fans.

The Office's Martin Freeman plays Arthur Dent, the tea and beer-drinking "5ft 8in ape descendant" who is perturbed one day to discover that workmen have appeared outside his home to demolish it.

Arthur's best mate, Ford Prefect (rapper Mos - pronounced to rhyme with gross - Def), has a strange reaction to the news and drags him down the pub for a last sup before earth is destroyed - ironically, for a larger galactical bypass.

Ford, it turns out, is a writer for the bestselling "Hitchhiker's Guide". When the two are then saved from obliteration, thanks to a huge Vogon ship, it's the beginning of a strange and amazing set of adventures encompassing poetry so bad it could kill you, a two-headed egomaniac and a man who can put the world back together again.

The casting of the weird world is both innovative and ingenious. Stephen Fry voices the guide, in excerpts from the book which are absolutely charming, while Bill Nighy, Helen Mirren and John Malkovich contribute, the latter in the small role of Humma Kavula, created by Adams for the film.

The one strange move is that Willow actor Warwick Davis has been cast as Marvin the Paranoid Android, but we don't see his face and his voice is provided by Alan Rickman.

Sadly, the end result isn't as funny as it should have been, and sometimes it's hard to comprehend what's going on, given that characters have names like Questular Rontok and Zaphod Beeblebrox.

But it's difficult to see how this could have been much better as a first big-screen treatment. Love of the material emanates from its every pore - and the opening sequence is bliss.

I'm going to steal from Adams and advise that you "don't panic" and give this sci-fi fan's dream a little space to find an audience.

For the efforts involved, it absolutely deserves it.