migrating leopard 10.5.8 to new lion...help

OK so first off I am asking this question for my boyfriend as his mac/internet/etc is tied up for aparently the next 35 hours...

So My bf just got a new macbook and he wanted to transfer all his files/programs/apps/etc, from his old 10.5.8 leopard mac to his new one. he was told to use an ethernet cable and transfer through setup assistant so after much trouble of getting them to recognize eachother he started the transfer. He has his old mac setup wirelessly connected to the internet and new mac, and his new mac connected to the router via ethernet cable.

he started to run the setup assistant on the new mac and migration assistant on the old one. after a couple hours the old mac froze, but the new ones prgress is changing, it started at 19 hrs, jumped to 54, then down to 20, then up to 75, and now it is at 35 hrs, while the old one remains at 19 hrs.

what he wants to know is if things are still transferring from the old one even though it appears to be frozen? and how long should we wait to see if anything changes?

should he quit the transfer? and if so wont it just freeze when he tries again?

what are the repercussions to quitting mid way? will he lose things that might have already transferred?

is there a better way to transfer everything?

how long is it suppose to take, he has approx 140gb to transfer?

and in the event that we need to start over, can someone give me a very detailed outline of how to transfer all the files from his old mac to the new one, in lamens terms.

or should we just give up and bring them both in to the apple store and have them help us out?

any help would be greatly appreciated, he is very stressed out, mostly because school starts tomorrow, and he wont be able to bring his much needed computer to class as it is stuck attached to the router.