Much like the last one, it whizzes, it bangs, it makes cutesy references to the original series and movies, it puts a weird opposite world kind of spin on WRATH OF KHAN, and then the lights go up and we go home. J. J. Abrams is a man who knows how to make spectacle, of that there is no doubt, but he seems increasingly unaware of what makes the Star Trek universe so appealing and special. He just might do wonders for STAR WARS VII, but he may do it in all the wrong ways.

Slight, but charming. It’s nice to see that an animated movie, with all the work and time it takes to make one, can be almost entirely eventless, gliding by on the charm of character alone. This seems to be the movie that Hayao wishes his son started out with, and it’s not lost on me that its themes include honoring the past while preparing for the future and the legacy great men leave with their children.

One of those movies that's so far ahead of its time that it now seems old fashioned, simply because 100+ films have imitated its playful and whimsical style. Even then, there's something here that's inimitable, a certain spirit and joie de vivre that seems to go beyond the technical, beyond what's on the screen. I just can't imagine the type of filmmaker Vigo would've become, and unfortunately, we'll never know. But at least there's this.