Star Trek 2009

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: The new Star Trek motion picture seeks to extend a lucrative brand with a young demographic. But it's a real movie -- breathlessly paced bordering on manic, but propulsively entertaining. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: It is pleasant to report that though it's not perfect, the reconstituted Star Trek is successful enough for everyone to breathe a sigh of relief. Read more

Ben Lyons, At the Movies: I think JJ Abrams walks the line gracefully between honoring the original series and introducing the pop culture movie masses to these characters. Read more

Amy Nicholson, I.E. Weekly: Under the swoons of the orchestral dirge, you can hear J.J. Abrams stride onto the deck of the Enterprise and shout, "Welcome to my galaxy!" Read more

James Rocchi, MSN Movies: I can name exactly three and a half things "Star Trek" gets wrong -- and I can name about a thousand that Abrams and his cast and crew get absolutely, pitch-perfect, elegantly right. Read more

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: A bright, shiny blast from a newly imagined past. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: If you care about this universe (and I do, damn it), you won't sit passively through J.J. Abrams's restart Trek. You'll marvel at the smarts and wince at the senselessness. You'll nitpick it to death and thrill to it anyway. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: An enjoyably mindless thrill ride. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: Star Trek goes back to the legend's roots with a boldness that brings a fatigued franchise back to life. Read more

Jeff Shannon, Seattle Times: You couldn't ask for a less ponderous, more rollicking time. Read more

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: Either you'll go with it or you won't. Regardless, based on Abrams' ambition and scope in rejuvenating the franchise, it's clear it still has plenty of room to live long and prosper. Read more

Keith Phipps, AV Club: It boldly goes somewhere different and makes it hard to leave the film not hoping for a return voyage soon. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: A new creation, one that serves as a self-contained film and a launching pad for a continuation of the franchise, one that should live long and prosper. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: Trading on affections sustained over 40 years of popular culture, Star Trek does what a franchise reboot rarely does. It reminds us why we loved these characters in the first place. Read more

Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle: Abrams' redo isn't just a blast from the past. It's a blast. Read more

Tom Charity, CNN.com: Did somebody just reach through the space-time continuum and pull out a white rabbit? Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: The young cast is mostly callow and TV-bland and the special effects don't quite seem worth that hefty price tag, but overall this is a presentable addition to the franchise. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: You needn't know the secret handshakes or utter the Vulcan blessing "live long and prosper" to gain admission to, and enjoy, summer's first thrill ride. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: A film that should appeal to longtime Trekkies, sci-fi neophytes and pretty much anybody who likes a good action flick. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: With a crew like this, you can welcome the future. Read more

Laremy Legel, Film.com: One of the most accessible and entertaining films of the year. Read more

Tom Maurstad, Dallas Morning News: The summer movie season has barely begun, but already one thing is certain: It will have at least one indisputably great movie. Read more

Ray Bennett, Hollywood Reporter: Paced at warp speed with spectacular action sequences rendered brilliantly and with a cast so expert that all the familiar characters are instantly identifiable, the film gives Paramount Pictures a new lease of life on its franchise. Read more

Scott Foundas, L.A. Weekly: Even by the standards of its own predecessors, this Trek feels like it was made by a committee of logic-minded Vulcans (or franchise-protective studio executives) rather than a filmmaker with the singular personality of Nicholas Meyer. Read more

Bruce Newman, San Jose Mercury News: Writers Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman manage to morph the new actors into the general outlines of the original crew, but even as they slip into the old character molds, they immediately start to break out of them. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: Take note, George Lucas: This is how it's done. Read more

Scott Von Doviak, Fort Worth Star-Telegram/DFW.com: As unlikely as it once seemed, it looks like the ol' Enterprise has a few more light-years left in it after all. Read more

Christopher Orr, The New Republic: In his daft, dizzy reinvention of a moribund franchise, Abrams has found a way to be referential without being reverential, to conjure nostalgia without being constrained by it. Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: That jolt of energy may resuscitate the franchise; its breathing, however, feels shallow. Read more

Anthony Lane, New Yorker: Quinto is the one person here who may leave teen-aged viewers more perplexed than puffed up; he somehow rebukes the movie's whole obsession with backstory and immaturity by seeming riper and wiser than the charmless folly that is spun around him. Read more

Bob Mondello, NPR: The aim here is to court a new generation of fans without alienating the true believers speaking Klingon in the box-office lines. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: It's an exciting, stellar-yet-earthy blast that successfully blends the hip and the classic. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: Smart, epic and eye-popping. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: It took decades of increasingly mediocre TV series and Data-dull movies to beat Star Trek to death. But J.J. Abrams brings it all back to basics. Read more

Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: The happy result is action-friendly, nerd-friendly, and fundamentally optimistic. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: The setup is complete; now it's time to see whether the implied potential of this first entry into a new series can be realized in its sequel. Read more

Richard Roeper, Richard Roeper.com: Highly illogical but entertaining as hell. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: The Gene Roddenberry years, when stories might play with questions of science, ideals or philosophy, have been replaced by stories reduced to loud and colorful action. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: Summer officially hits warp speed. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: With Star Trek Abrams honors the show's legacy without fossilizing its best qualities. Instead, he's whisked it off to a planet where numbing nostalgia can't kill it, and where the future is still something to look forward to. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: In going back to tell the Enterprise story from the beginning, Star Trek presses collective emotional buttons people didn't even know they had. At its best, the effect is like seeing life panoramically, past and future, simultaneous and magnificent. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: Abrams' cannily constructed prequel respects (for the most part) the rules of that world and, more importantly, retains the original Star Trek's spirit of optimism, curiosity, and humor. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: This is really the story of how the Enterprise crew meets, hammers out its differences and becomes a team, and the telling is pure bliss. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: The wit and youthful energy that's been infused into the new Star Trek should enable this venerable franchise to live longer and prosper more handsomely. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: It's also a pleasure to report that, not only have Gene Roddenberry's ideas stood up pretty well over the decades, so have Spock's ears. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: Phasers set on "stunning." Read more

Mary F. Pols, TIME Magazine: There are many satisfyingly sly flourishes in Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman's script. Read more

Tom Huddleston, Time Out: The overall impression is one of unbridled enthusiasm on the part of the film's makers, both for its predecessors and for the brave new universe Abrams and his crew are exploring. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Hen it comes to sheer spectacle, Star Trek, as re-imagined by J.J. Abrams, delivers. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Variety: Blasting onto the screen at warp speed and remaining there for two hours, the new and improved Star Trek will transport fans to sci-fi nirvana. Read more

Robert Wilonsky, Village Voice: It's enough to move even a Star Wars fan to tears. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: A movie that, against all odds, has miraculously resurrected a wheezing but beloved franchise. Read more