To Be Takei

Jennifer Kroot's new documentary is a zippily fun and sometimes moving look at everyone's favorite U.S.S. Enterprise crewman. "To Be Takei" puts actor, politician, public-speaker, and all-around funny man George Takei center in the command chair.

Since coming out less than a decade ago, Takei has ingrained himself into public consciousness as one of the most heartwarming and adorable individuals of recent years. And while his warm laugh and quick sense of humor are on full display, we also get a warm look at his marriage to his husband Brad (a character all himself) and a look at his difficult past.

Having survived the U.S. Japanese internment camps with his family, Takei also flourished in an industry that was not always keen on people of different races being front and center, much less gay ones, Takei's story goes from despair and loss as a child, to his own personal sexual awakening, to his long-lasting acting career, into his political forays, right up to the recent award winning musical he conceived and produced about the internment camps, "Allegiance." All along the way he remains a jovial presence that keeps on inspiring people with his unending positivity.

There is so much to learn from Mr. Takei and to be fair, this film only scratches the surface. It doesn't dig too deep, but it does present a magnificent man whose history is just as compelling as his Facebook posts. "Oh my," indeed.