Late to the party... I finally watch it last night. I absolutely loved this movie. Some quick comments on this thread and then my own comments...

-- Clear parallel to the beautiful yet empty Gravity. There were no real stakes in that movie (I didn't care if she died). The emotional core is what makes the visuals work. There are stakes.

-- Totally agree on the score and the mixing. Beautiful music, one of the very best I've heard. Terrible sound mix. Biggest flaw of the movie.

-- Similarly structured to 2001. It's essentially a three-act play. I'll be honest, I loved Act Three. The multiverse of her bedroom was incredibly touching to me, even if a bit over-explained. As a parent, I really connected to that storyline, and I liked how humanity saves itself not by thinking globally, but thinking micro. He loves his daughter and wants to return. That is his motivator.

-- No mention of the robots? Much needed comic relief, but not overdone. You actually feel for CASE when they shoot him through the black hole. He's a person by this point.

-- I read some reviews which complained about the fifth dimension being love. I think that misinterprets the film. Gravity and time were the 4th and 5th dimensions, but it was love that made us human. That was our primary instinct, and the thing that drives us. Anyone who doesn't believe that love, particularly parental love, cannot drive a person like that has not lived enough. I just feel bad for someone who has missed that part of their life so far.

And this gets to a big key for the film for me: balancing love and fear. Dr. Mann argues fear is what makes us human, but even his argument hinges on our response to live. You see your children before your die, and you fear losing them. You fear the absence of love.

Brand, OTOH, argues that love will guide them to the correct planet. Now, it turns out she's right, but even if she wasn't, it's simply important because love is the thing that drives her and makes this all possible. Same with Cooper. He has to get home to see his child to fulfill a promise.

Fear is not the opposite of love, cynicism is. And as I've gotten older, I've grown weary of the cynical viewpoint in film and music, which essentially gives permission to people not to try because it doesn't matter anyway. Cynicism leads to apathy. Skepticism is good and healthy, so long as it spurs action, but it becomes destructive when it becomes a way to justify your refusal to honestly engage things. It's why I have such contempt for ironic detachment. It's a coward's way out.

Interstellar comes down firmly on the side of love, but also of dreaming in order to take action. Merely surviving in the dirt is not enough, we have to reach for the stars to truly be human, and become our better selves. Yes, this risks failure. That is what makes the accomplishment greater. Interstellar doesn't just dream of a new future of exploration, but gives us the reason to go do it.

I found the movie profoundly moving.