Saw the new Star Trek movie and LOVED IT! Geek Mom’s review

I don’t get out much, but Hubby and I are celebrating 13 years of marriage today, and we went out to dinner and a movie on Saturday night. The kids asked “What’s a date and why can’t we come?” I explained that we were celebrating the anniversary of our wedding, which happened before any of the three kids were here, and we wanted to remember what it was like without them! LOL

I’m not really a Trekkie. I saw one of the earlier Star Trek movies when I was a kid. It was on an airplane, so I didn’t have a choice, and it was the one with that nasty bug that went into the guy’s ear. Well, it made me sleep with my pillow wrapped around my head to prevent any such bugs from getting in at night, and perhaps turned me off of Star Trek for a while.

We were really planning on seeing Night at the Museum, but we missed it, so Star Trek was Plan B. I’m so glad we saw it, because it was AWESOME!

First of all, I’m kind of a J.J. Abrams fan. I loved ALIAS and some of his other television projects. Also, I love Heroes, and Zachary Quinto (a.k.a. super-villian Sylar) played young Spock. I’ve been known to enjoy a space story (crazy for Battlestar Galactica and Star Wars), and finally, I grew up in Iowa, so I have that in common with James Tiberius Kirk. I figured I’d probably like the movie. I was surprised by how immensely entertaining it was for me! Here’s the trailer: (more after the video clip…)

Without getting into lots of detail about the story, let me highlight a few things that made it so much fun. There were plenty of amazing special effects, including black holes and big explosions. I love it when you see an explosion and then hear and feel it a moment later as the shock wave blasts through the theater. There was lots of humor to keep it moving along happily, a little romance, some old-fashioned hand-to-hand combat, and enough of the well-known Star Trek character bits and trademark lines to appeal to even the casual Trek fan.

Since I’m not a Trek scholar, I can’t address how this film fits into the existing Star Trek canon. But as a geek who enjoys quite a bit of space and sci-fi stuff, I give it two thumbs up! Even at $10 per ticket, plus another $20 for a popcorn and two sodas (outrageous!!) it was worth it to see it in a real theater with a huge screen and monster speakers.

So if you’re looking for a fun, fast, fantastic flick, I recommend Star Trek! Bonus: Watch for appearances by a well-disguised Winona Ryder, the icy planet Hoth, either Harold or Kumar, and a Rambaldi sphere. I’ll be impressed if you find them all.

photo from the official Star Trek movie site (which is really a cool site)