The Force Awakens takes everything that made Star Wars amazing and then adds modern CGI and cinematography to make an exciting experience that long time fans such as myself have been waiting for.

Rey and Finn are perhaps the best part of the new trilogy

The movie introduces new characters which are actually more fun to watch than the returning cast from the original trilogy. While seeing the original cast was great, I found the chemistry between the two new protagonists (Rey and Finn) to be the most interesting parts of the movie.

Disney nailed the Star Wars universe. This feels like a Star Wars movie, and that makes everything so much better. Instead of the horrible CGI from the prequels, they opted to use real sets and then add CGI in a tasteful manner.

Story wise there is a lot to talk about – including several twists and turns along the way. It’s safe to say you’ll go through a wide range of emotions throughout the movie. I recommend watching it knowing as little as you can beforehand.

Perhaps the 2nd best part of the story is how they introduce the villain. We all know no one is ever going to live up to Darth Vader. And it seems Disney knew that well. So they created Kylo Ren, someone who kind of looks like a copy of Darth Vader but as his story line opens up, it’s obvious he is much different and the two contrast each other in certain ways. It was smart, and opens up a lot of pathways that the following two movies can explore.

The only negative thing I can say about this movie is that it doesn’t feel original at all. The storytelling relies on a lot of things that we’ve seen before. While that’s not a BAD thing, some originality wouldn’t have hurt.

You have to go see this movie.