Review of Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) by Jeffrey S — 21 Sep 2010

Thankfully devoid of violent theatrics and alive with sweetly playful humor, "Star Trek: Insurrection" is not merely the most wonderfully gentle fantasy adventure in recent memory; it is a poignant advocation for a beautiful way of being.

Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patick Stewart) and his fellow explorers discover a planet of eteranlly youthful beings called the Ba'ku. The experience of living among and defending this race teaches our heroes to enrich their disciplined existence with an element of nonsenical fun (the film ends with a wonderful scene where the android Data plays in a haystack with a little boy).

Yet they never abandon their film moral awareness, and therefore when they leave aboard their familiar starship, they find their hearts and minds exhileratingly light yet still full of the same selfless energy that has propelled them through the stars for so long.