Abrams’s ambitious reinvention of the more than 40-year-old sci-fi flagship works in just about every way you could hope. Against the odds, Abrams and company have successfully crafted a new beginning that both honors the series’ previous incarnations but also charts its own course using a clever time-traveling narrative that essentially creates an alternate Trek universe and frees up future writers from having to adhere to every detail of the established canon. Trekkies will lap up all the pointed references to the television series and previous movies, but even those who don’t know a Romulan from a Klingon will still find much to enjoy in the slam-bang slickness of the thrills and the relatable emotional conflicts that form the story’s core. (Hollywood Jewell 16, Waco, TX)