.jeri.

The summer blockbuster season continues! I have a cool mother-in-law. We asked her to tell us what she wanted to do for Mother's Day, and she said she wanted to eat out and go see Star Trek. We didn't even have to buy her an expensive dinner! We had a quick bite at a shop near the theater and headed in to see the movie. It's pretty funny going to a Star Trek movie with my in-laws. My father-in-law is a massive fan of all things Star Trek, including the trading cards, and he was convinced that he needed to get to the theater super early and stand in a line outside the theater. I bet he was actually upset that he had to wait until Mother's Day to see the movie instead of seeing it Thursday night. It really tickled me to listen to his reactions throughout this movie. People keep saying "this isn't your father's Star Trek," but mine was oohing and aaahing and laughing and gasping through the whole thing.

This definitely begins a new genre of Star Trek movies. I've only seen a couple of the others, but the difference is just a matter of approach. The story isn't all that different - there's a villain out there in space who is angry and power hungry, and that villain poses a threat to the lives of other people, and it's up to the crew of the Enterprise to save the day. This movie just has an exposition that gets us to that plot, which tells us about how the crew all end up on the same ship together. I liked the stories of the characters, and thought that having those stories made the overarching story less stale. It's definitely different, though, because there's more cursing,more brawling, and there's a Beastie Boys song on the soundtrack.

Before I went to see Star Trek, I heard that the movie contained a lot of winks and references that only devout Star Trek fans would understand. This sounded pretty hokey to me, so I went into the movie with very low expectations, despite the overall good reviews. There definitely are a few lines that feel forced into the dialog, but I was actually surprised at how many fit right in. One can tell that the movie was written with a lot of care and that it's not wanting to take the already existing Star Trek movies and television for granted. It pays homage while starting something new. I was also surprised by the cast and their ability to be a part of this project without overstepping their roles by either trying to imitate or trying too hard to make a new spin on the character. And it's pretty creepy how much some of the new cast look like their predecessors.

Like the Wolverine movie, this is an origin story. It does try to go a little deeper with its content than that movie, but it's also trying to capture a new audience that loves going to see fun and entertaining movies. So it stays on the surface, although it didn't make me cringe at all like some of the gimmicks in Wolverine did. Hopefully, for both series, the writers will be able to delve deeper into their characters and moral and ethical issues now that they know they've got an audience. While both were enjoyable on different levels, the series can't continue successfully for long if they don't start to tackle the issues that made us love the original stories in the first place. I trust that as the crew of the Enterprise mature, there's plenty of lessons for them to learn in the future.

At any rate, I had a fun time, and my in-laws couldn't stop talking the whole ride home, so I'm pretty sure that means it's got their generation's seal of approval too.