Positively brilliant!!

Rating: 10/10 (25 May 2009)

This movie was positively brilliant! In my opinion, any movie that can honestly make you cry within the first ten minutes, and cause you to fall out of your chair laughing within the first twenty is a good movie. I would not go into detail so as to spoil potential viewers, but believe me, even if you are not a Star Trek fan, you would be able to grasp most of the concepts provided and laugh and cry and gasp with the rest of us.
Obviously, there are lines and references that would be more clear if you knew what they were talking about, but even without the previous knowledge of the Star Trek universe, things make sense. They do quite nicely in setting up *this* world so that one can understand what is happening as it pertains to this particular situation.
Not only is it a good movie in Star Trek terms, but in all-around movie terms! The visual effects are absolutely stunning, and I can only imagine how much green screen they had to work with! But the visual effects don't serve to alienate the characters, as it might in other movies. The movie is not focused on space travel but the development of the characters, and therefore the visual effects only serve as an elegantly painted backdrop to the story, not a main component. And, especially in comparison to previously made movies, the acting is *quite* superb. All of the characters are brilliantly portrayed by the actors involved, helped along considerably by the expertly written script. there is not a dull moment, but at the same time there is not an overload of information and action. Young Spock (Zachary Quinto) especially quite adeptly illustrates the conflict of being a child of two worlds and not belonging to either, but desperately wishing to. And one can easily see how young James Kirk (Christ Pine) develops into the older Kirk of the original series. The characters are remarkably quite true to form.
I know there has been quite a fuss that the technology of the Enterprise is not the same as the original series, which is quite absurd. Of course it's different! Futuristic in 60's terms was flip top communication devices and small hand held screens holding a plethora of information . . . which is entirely commonplace these days. Star Trek is supposed to be futuristic, and so they have to raise the bar considerably higher than the original 60's TV show. And, in true Star Trek fashion, they did so in a believable way. One could see how our technology could advance to such a place, even though it is not there quite yet.
All in all, this movie was amazing. Not only do I plan to see it again in theaters but I wait quite impatiently for the DVD release. This movie is in no way a waste of time or money, and I would recommend it to anyone!