To those of us old enough to remember the premiere of the first film: Get over it. The "Irwin Allen" days of ooh! and aah! are gone and ain't coming back. You marveled at this film because it broke ground on sfx, and now have to deal with the aftermath of a world where every filmmaker since adopted what made it original. The next level of thrills won't likely happen until 3D immersion's a reality (and you can bet your bippy Lucas will try to rerelease his magnum opus in that format if he's still alive). As far as script and characterization is concerned, I haven't seen it yet so I can't say. I do recognize that Lawrence Kasdan's a tough act to follow--he and Nicholas Meyer have, IMHO, a better grip on what Lucas aims for in screenplays which balance thrills and clever dialogue (as opposed to Bruce Willis/Schwartzenegger one-liners right before blowing something up).