This adventure is harmless enough in its save the (mechanical) whales way. However, it is slow to get going on the glittering repartee and over-long.

Much of the fun to be found in the quite witty screenplay involves the bemused citizens of the future trying to cope with 20th-century life.

If most movies today are doomed to be sure-fire, presold properties--with ideas leached from our recent TV or cinematic past--let's hope they're all as good at the game as "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home."

A fascinating time capsule of the era's attitudes towards ecological issues. It sent out a distress call in the 1980s that still needs urgent attention in the contemporary world.