Most people who will watch this will barely understand the movie. Even the intellectuals wont understand the most of it. What the movie wants to tell you is:

Originally Posted by
ubique
This, though, I may have to tell you. It is very surreal and I felt afraid after watching. I have this fear of the thought of floating in the universe and not knowing where I am heading, can't move properly and doesn't have any gun to kill myself. The feeling I get when I think about that is close to what I am feeling now. Like waking up to a dream and then realizing you're still in it.

Like Kubrick said long ago:
You're free to speculate as you wish about the philosophical and allegorical meaning of the film — and such speculation is one indication that it has succeeded in gripping the audience at a deep level — but I don't want to spell out a verbal road map for 2001 that every viewer will feel obligated to pursue or else fear he's missed the point.
The movie is highly praised because back the day it was released, it was praised for scientific accuracy, special effects and introduced the most understandable concept of space odysseys. But right now it can't be that much understood considering that we are almost aware of the concepts introduced there - the wow factor is eliminated.
The part near the ending is the most hypnotic part of the movie. It's like the empty dull parts before that scene was filled in. Then there I have appreciated it. I've watched it when I was 10 years old, it wasn't really appealing to me but I've finished it and I liked it when I grew older. This is one of the movies I would show to my children when they're still young, because it would definitely make them curious what it is and what it wants to tell us.
PS: Kubrick is awesome man. I loved Dr. Strangelove and FMJ.