J.J. Abrams' 2009 feature film was billed as "not your father's Star Trek;" but your father will probably love it anyway. And what's not to love? It has enough action; emotional impact; humor; and sheer fun for any moviegoer; and Trekkers will enjoy plenty of insider references and a cast that seems ideally suited to portray the characters we know they'll become later. Both a prequel and a reboot; Star Trek introduces us to James T. Kirk (Chris Pine of The Princess Diaries 2); a sharp but aimless young man who's prodded by a Starfleet captain; Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood); to enlist and make a difference. At the Academy; Kirk runs afoul of a Vulcan commander named Spock (Zachary Quinto of Heroes); but their conflict has to take a back seat when Starfleet; including its new ship; the Enterprise; has to answer an emergency call from Vulcan. What follows is a stirring tale of genocide and revenge launched by a Romulan (Eric Bana) with a particular interest in Spock; and we get to see the familiar crew come together; including McCoy (Karl Urban); Uhura (Zoe Saldana); Sulu (John Cho); Chekhov (Anton Yelchin); and Scottie (Simon Pegg).

The action and visuals make for a spectacular Big-Screen Movie; though the plot by Abrams and his writers; Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman (who worked together on Transformers and with Abrams on Alias and Mission Impossible III); and his producers (fellow Losties Damon Lindeloff and Bryan Burk) can be a bit of a mind-bender (no surprise there for Lost fans). Hardcore fans with a bone to pick may find faults; but resistance is futile when you can watch Kirk take on the Kobayashi Maru scenario or hear McCoy bark; "Damnit; man; I'm a doctor; not a physicist!" An appearance by Leonard Nimoy and hearing the late Majel Barrett Roddenberry as the voice of the computer simply sweeten the pot. Now comes the hard part: waiting for some sequels to this terrific prequel. --David Horiuchi