Completely unoriginal albeit entertaining enough

Rating: 5/10 (22 January 2016)

When I first found out JJ Abrams was helming this ship I set my sights a little lower. And I'm disappointed to say I was not disappointed. As a moviegoer I don't mind Abrams, he's especially good at making entertaining and well-crafted movies that make money. But as a fan of an existing "movie universe" I knew the end-product would be unoriginal. If there were such things as a conveyor belt / assembly line that could manufacture movies Abrams' model would surely be the very top of its class.
I will not go in to detail to avoid spoiling anything. It's a shame because the movie had a lot going for it. The cast of new characters and the actors that played them (particularly the female lead) were excellent and refreshing to watch. Also, it was a treat to see many of the original actors back to reprise their roles... though even this seems uninspired. The production-value was great, as expected. The special effects were great, as expected. Even the script was fine. But the story was so completely unoriginal, that I found myself going over it again and again afterwards trying to find some originality in it but there was little to be found. It was like they took the original episodes, changed a few variables around and recycled it for the 21st century audience.
On the bright-side perhaps using the same formula which made the original episodes work so well will adopt a whole new generation of young enthusiast fans.