The fate of the galaxy rests in the hands of bitter rivals. One, James Kirk, is a delinquent, thrill-seeking Iowa farm boy. The other, Spock, was raised in a logic-based society that rejects all emotion. As fiery instinct clashes with calm reason, their unlikely but powerful partnership is the only thing capable of leading their crew through unimaginable danger, boldly going where no one has gone before.

This is not your father’s Star Trek. The irony of that statement is that many fans of the series have been in an uproar over it but in all honesty it describes the movie better than any other line that you could think of to associate the movie with. The movie is light and day different between the first Star Trek motion picture and even more so from the television series of the 1960’s and I will be the first one to say that I loved this Star Trek vastly more than any of the movies that have come before it. Simply put the Star Trek reboot was the best Star Trek movie to date as they took advantage of all the technological advances in film making all the while still infusing the movie with the great characters of Trek universe and also adding a great story and plot. They did try a little too hard at times to try and make sure each character got to say their famous lines but all in all the new Trek was the best Trek so far.

Going into the movie I was apprehensive of them recasting all the characters and starting over. I understand that it’s the popular thing right now as both Batman and James Bond had very successful reboots to their series’ but it didn’t make me any less apprehensive for the film. William Shatner will always be Captain Kirk and Leonard Nimoy will always be Spock and it seemed almost moronic to try and recast a cast that was fairly young during the 1960’s with another fairly young cast today. But truth be told they did a fantastic job of reconciling these facts and they started from the very beginning with the day James T. Kirk was born something you never got to see in any of the television shows or movies before. I mean it’s still almost impossible to not see Nimoy as Spock but luckily he gets to come back for the latest installment and play a much older and more grayed Spock.

One of the things I haven’t liked about the Trek movies of late is that it was so chock full of inside jokes and references to the television series that it was almost impossible to watch for your average everyday moviegoer like myself. I have only seen bits and pieces of the television series’ over the year but I have seen every single Star Trek movie and to feel like they were leaving me in the dark someone who goes to every movie was a very ominous sign. I am somewhat of a geek or a nerd myself per say and for me to be left in the dark shows that the series was going in an entirely wrong direction. The movies were starting to only play for the fanboys and fangirls of the series and were leaving everyone else behind. The new Star Trek brings back the spirit of the first motion picture though were its for everyone once more and not just for Trekies and that is one of the best things they fixed with the new movie and one of the reasons it was so good.

The single best part of the film though was the story and plot. The story is so intriguing and fun and exciting that you can’t help but be drawn in and fall in love with the characters of the Trek universe. Too be able to see an alternate universe about Kirk and to get to see all the back stories before leading up to his climatic rise as captain of the Enterprise in a fierce and exciting battle made me a fan of Star Trek. It made me a fan so much so that I do want to go back and watch some of the old television series and to re-watch all the movies and that is fantastic praise for the new movie.

Now Kirk will always be Shatner but I am going to be a little sacrilegious here and say that I actually liked Chris Pine more as Kirk than I ever did Shatner. Shatner is still always going to be Kirk but I loved the young zeal and style that Pine brought to the character. Outside of Pine as Kirk the rest of the casting was very questionable and almost horrible at times. What worked for Pine is that you didn’t associate him with anything else because he is somewhat of an unknown and this is what they should have done with the rest of the cast. Not for one moment of the film did Zachary Quinto feel like Spock rather her felt like Sylar with Vulcan ears most of the movie. That is why I was glad Nimoy was in the film because we actually got a real Spock in the film that way. John Cho as Sulu is Harold I am sorry and Simon Pegg as Scottie is Simon Pegg trying to be Scottie. The film would have done better to cast complete unknowns instead of actors we know and recognize. That being said I also loved Karl Urban as Doctor McCoy and he’s not a complete unknown. But all told the new Star Trek was my favorite of all the Star Trek movies and actually made me glad they rebooted the series because I am looking forward to more adventures from the crew of the Enterprise in the future.

Grade: A-