A few years ago, I read Project Hail Mary and really enjoyed it. I've finally seen the movie adaptation and enjoyed it very much, for many of the same reasons.

Like in The Martian, Project Hail Mary features a charming and witty everyman protagonist. This time around, Ryan Gosling plays Dr. Ryland Grace, a biologist turned middle-school science teacher who gets volunteered against his will to travel to Tau Ceti to better understand the organisms eating our Sun.

There he meets Rocky, an alien lifeform on the same mission, and like in the book Grace's relationship with Rocky takes center stage and the "save the Earth" plot serves as a backdrop. This is a really great adaptation - Gosling captures Grace's mannerisms from the book, and Rocky looks and sounds great. I read that Rocky is mostly a real physical puppet/animatronic, and it definitely helps the movie feel more real. I really like when movies try to use physical effects when possible.

Project Hail Mary looks and sounds great. It doesn't have the weight of something like Interstellar, but it's also not trying to take itself too seriously. This is a family-friendly film for the most part and is surprisingly funny at quite a few moments. I wish a little more time was spent developing the relationship with Rocky - it's a very important piece of the book - but the movie's already pushing up against a 3-hour runtime, and not much of that time is wasted.

If you read the book, you'll likely enjoy this adaptation. If you didn't, it's still a great, fun space blockbuster that's well-acted and is full of spectacle. This is one of the best movies of the year.