Leaving the 2009 film out of the equation, I think between the TOS and TNG era films, the TOS era films were the ones that more broadly reached a general audience. No technobabble to get bogged down in, and the Kirk, Spock, McCoy trinity is something that just about everyone (fan or not) can relate to.
I just never really saw the same interpersonal stuff in the TNG films. TWoK had the best opening moments, because it addresses a very personal issue with Kirk: age, and the desire to go back and command a starship and live as he once did, instead of being stuck behind a computer desk and being consigned to fade off into obscurity.
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