The 'Casino Royale' of the Star Trek franchise

Rating: 7/10 (10 May 2009)

I like this movie, it's exciting...but it's no Khan. It's not even close to The Search for Spock, but more on par with some of the Next Generation films.
My conclusion comes from looking at the series theme as a whole, and the movie's place in that theme. Any reboot of an established legacy franchise is doomed to fail unless it captures the old magic of the original concept in a new but essentially familiar way. My thoughts...
What this film included that it should not have: 1. Time travel. Overdone in the franchise already. Time travel as a plot cornerstone doesn't signal 'new' or 'refreshing'.
2. A romantic relationship between Spock and Uhura...what?? This kind of thing was tried in the original series with nurse Chapel. It didn't work then and it doesn't work now.
3. Disaffected Romulans that looked like Red Wizards of Thay from D & D. We know what Romulans are supposed to look like. And now you know what Red Wizards of Thay look like.
4. The complete annihilation of the planet Vulcan. At least they didn't kill off a main character or destroy the Enterprise, but wiping out a founding planet of the Federation is almost as bad.
5. The death of Spock's mother. Minor plot device not needed.
6. Leonard Nemoy. Some may think the cameo by Nimoy was a nice touch for the sake of continuity, but I think it was better left out.
7. Super-transporters, able to beam people halfway across the galaxy, on to a ship moving at warp speed nonetheless. They don't have even this in the 25th century Trek.
What this film was missing that it needed: 1. Theme music worthy of a major Star Trek film. The main theme is OK, but epic space battles require epic theme music. Plus, the themes from the trailers were noticeably absent? 2. Chris Pine in about 5 years. Shatner had an overabundance of screen presence, Chris Pine not enough. Kirk seems like a kid-Captain because Chris Pine IS a kid, despite his acting, which was better than expected.
3. Starship interiors that look like starship interiors. Not talking the boxy sets of the 60s series here, but 2 things really stuck out as goofy. 1) An engine room that looked like the factory it was shot in. Way too spacious and 'industrial' looking. The pride of the Starfleet should look more clean and high-tech. 2) The enterprise bridge was cluttered yet sterile. I've heard it best described as the 'iBridge'. Was the main view-screen also a window? 4. Phasers that look like phasers. I always thought phasers were beams of energy? Both the hand-held and ship-mounted phasers in this movie were too much like blasters from Star Wars.
5. Klingons. Klingons were THE main enemy of the federation at this time. Romulans are good secondary bad guys, but the Klingons should have had at least a token appearance.
6. The cerebral aspect of Star Trek that we're all familiar with. A better balance of action with a richer development of the setting. The kind of thing that made one admire Star Trek as a forward looking inspiration for what the future could be if we all worked together.
In summary, this Star Trek is a very good movie in its own right, but not a great Trek movie. To me it is anachronistic to what Casino Royale is to the Bond film series -- well done, but still feels a bit awkward and out of place. Who knows? I felt this way when I watched the first Next Generation episode and then grew to love that series.