The new Enterprise crew. Image courtesy Paramount Pictures

Prequels are one of the trickiest sorts of movies to pull off correctly. When you’re working with characters that people have known and loved for years and years, it’s very hard to get everything right. For every “Batman Begins” there are 10 that just don’t get it right: Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace, X Men Origins: Wolverine and Star Trek: Enterprise come to mind as prequels that landed way below the hype and expectation created for them and only served to disappoint loyal fans of their respective series.

J.J. Abrams adaptation of the original Star Trek crew blasts away any low expectations viewers might have about its integrity. The cast, script, special effects, and story are all top-notch, successfully bringing the aging (and before this, deteriorating) franchise into the 21st century. If you consider yourself any kind of a fan of Star Trek, Star Wars, or sci-fi in general, see this movie. Hell, even if you just like a good summer popcorn action flick and haven’t seen a Star Trek episode in your entire life, this movie is still for you. The positive reviews are all over the place: Star Trek will disspoint no one.

Star Trek follows the crew of the U.S.S Enterprise from the very beginning through the maiden voyage of the ship. The movie opens with the dramatic space birth of James T. Kirk, a man whose captain father sacrificed his life for the good of his crew and to save the life of his wife and child. From then on we follow Kirk, who from the very beginning of his life is an action-seeking rebel. His starfleet recruiter said he could be a captain in 4 years, Kirk says he’ll do it in 3, and he almost pulls it off.

I’ll spare you more plot details to avoid any spoilers, but the fact is is that every single part of this movie comes together beautifully. The characters that we know and loved from the original series are all back, recast in a way that gives them a new life but keeps their essence intact. Chris Pine plays a cocky, hubris-ridden Kirk who will stop at nothing to be a starfleet captain, Zachary Quinto plays the role of Spock so well that you could almost mistake him for a young Leonard Nimoy (who also appears), and the other main characters are recast with fabulous actors who many will recognize from other films. John Cho (Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle) plays a more badass Mr. Sulu, and Simon Pegg (Shawn of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) is a hilarious Scotty, who is still in the engine room “givin’ it all she’s got!”

Throughout the movie writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman throw in just the right amount of nods to classic Trek lines and situations to keep diehard fans happy, but not so much that it alienates the person who isn’t familiar with the series. The monologue from every TNG opening (“Space. The final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship enterprise…”) even makes an appearance, and there are enough “Live long and prosper” utterances to satisfy any Trekkie.

The revamped Enterprise. Image courtesy Paramount Pictures.

While the plot is a bit silly at times (and really, what Trek plot isn’t) and generally more violent than previous outings, the entire movie serves to both make fans happy and introduce new people to this wonderfully exciting world. At its core, Trek has always been about the characters, and I can happily say that this movie is no different. While Star Wars Episode I seemed to trash most of the great characters from Star Wars and introduced no new lovable ones, the way that Abrams handled everything here was entirely true to the series.

Star Trek will boldly go where no Trek movie in years has gone before: into the hearts of the thousands of people who worship the series as their religion. As my theater watched the Enterprise warp away yet again at the end of the flick, the entire place burst into thunderous applause and I could hear people turning to their friends and saying “wow. that was amazing.” It’s good to see a major reboot like this actually get it right.