Okay I may just be high on Star Trek right now but....

I think this could have worked. Some things about Pine's performance as Kirk actually reminded me a lot of Hammil, particularly his laugh, but he can also be sort of a Han Solo badass without losing the Lukeish charm of a young Jedi trainee. I think Pine's Kirk is a lot closer to how Anakin should have been played than how Hayden played it as kind of a dark, foreboding, moody, angsty teenager. Of course at this point, I'm not sure if I'd want to see Kirk and Anakin as the same actor...

P.S. I also hated Ewan's Jedi Mullet