A wonderful Trek film, but not without setbacks

Rating: Null/10 (6 January 2010)

I admit that being a huge fan of the 1960's original series, I am bound to be a little biased when reviewing the newest Star Trek movie, for better or worse. If you're expecting me to hate this movie, you are wrong; I most certainly did not hate it. However, if you're expecting me to hail this movie as the most perfect installation of the series and praise it to high heavens, you're wrong as well.
Let's start with the pros: the action, something the new movie definitely wins at when compared to the original series. The CGI work was gorgeous and didn't distract the viewer even when there was an abundance of it on screen. The sets were fabulous and the atmosphere of every setting was clearly defined (the high-tech buzz on board the Enterprise and the cave-like grittiness of the Narada, the Romulan ship). The new Trek is definitely a treat to literally see, however, as a note to the director, having almost constant lens flare on screen does not make a movie cool (!!!!).
There are scenes that take my breath away, and these are scenes that can only be seen in the new Trek: for example, the very first scene of James T. Kirk being born, and the death of his father, made me cry. Yes, I cried when I first saw that scene. Also the scenes showing young Spock were closely following what Star Trek canon has already established. The cinematography is beautiful and the music is fantastic.
WARNING: What you are about to read are very specific nitpicks by a fan of the original series. Don't take them too seriously, especially if you're a Star Trek newbie.
My main irk first popped up when watching the trailer; my first thoughts were "damn, they're trying to make this as EPIC as possible, huh?" which was not what the original series was about. "But this is a brand new Trek for a new generation, it's supposed to be more serious!" Yes, I agree, but when you try your hardest to make it believable and EPIC, it can lose some charm when fans of the original (and viewers who are brand new to Star Trek) view the movie.
My favorite thing to bitch about is the casting, especially the characters of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy. This film wasn't horribly miscast, I've seen worse, but none of the main cast were very believable as their characters. Chris Pine is not James T. Kirk; he is Malibu Ken. Though he doesn't suffer the fate of repeating catch-phrases, I did not like this new Kirk. He was made into a very unlikeable character, especially in the bar scene where he just acts like a horny jerk towards Uhura. Zachary Quinto as Mr. Spock was... passable. Physically, you can't find anyone better. However, who gave the green light for the scene where he beats up Kirk? Really? You're going to have a character who is famous for suppressing his emotions break apart and viciously attack someone out of anger? I don't care what you do with the timeline, I don't care how you handle villains and heroes, but I cannot accept taking a well-established characters trademark and flushing it down the toilet in a single scene. You. Just. Don't. Do. That. Karl Urban as Leonard "Bones" McCoy was just painful. When he wasn't forcing that horrible Southern accent out of his mouth he was spewing catch-phrases like no tomorrow. There's a difference between paying homage, and plain ripping off, and whenever I heard him say "I'm a doctor, not a..." -line, it came off as poor imitation. The rest of the cast was better than the "big three" I've talked about so far. John Cho as Sulu did a great job channeling his predecessor George Takei; Simon Pegg as Scotty was fantastic and I felt he portrayed his character with most affection and remembrance to James Doohan; Zoe Saldaña as Uhura was good, but nothing special; and Anton Yelchin was brilliant as the always eager and young-at-heart Pavel Chekov. I know there are characters I should be mentioning, such as Captain Christopher Pike, but if I start talking about every single character I'll be here forever.
I'll take a special moment to thank the always wonderful Leonard Nimoy for appearing in the new Trek. It was great to see the old Spock pass the torch to the new Spock, and, as always, his acting was superb and he really shined in what little screen time he had.
If it isn't obvious by now, my biggest and only problem with the new Star Trek movie was the casting. However, these are, again, very specific nitpicks. My final judgment is that the new Star Trek really is a fantastic movie; go see it of you're a fan, and definitely go see it if you've never watched a single episode of any Star Trek series. Whatever side you're on, you're in for a hell of a ride.