Awesome movie except the soundtrack
I realize it was the early 1970s, so that whole late 60s, hippie folk thing was still big, but the soundtrack was the only part of this movie I couldn't take. It was way too sappy and over-the-top for what was otherwise a great movie. It just seemed more appropriate for some movie about Woodstock or something. The movie IMO could've been way better and more serious if they didn't use that ridiculous music. I just kept waiting for hippies to pop out of the trees on the ship wearing flower power t-shirts. That is why 2001: A Space Odyssey's soundtrack holds up way better; classical music that is somewhat timeless, versus hippie folk stuff that only appealed to a mass audience in the late 60s and early 70s (despite the fact that less than 10% of people were actually hippies).
Anyway, just my thoughts. The soundtrack just seemed way too out of place and to me took away a little bit from what was otherwise a great film. It beat the audience over the heads with the environmentalist thing instead of being subtle in its message like I think movies with a message should be. In my opinion, if a movie is done artistically enough, you shouldn't need to beat the audience over the head with the message.