...or exceeded. The movie was well made and the cast was great. I wasn't looking forward to seeing John Cho or Simon Pegg, but they played their parts better than I was thinking they would. It was a lot of fun, very humorous (although it seemed a bit over the top or campy at times). I'm not a huge fan of the series but the past stories didn't come into play much at all. Some slight character background helps a bit, but this is definitely a flick you can bring your girlfriend to.