A fun movie, but almost completely unoriginal.

Rating: 6/10 (21 December 2015)

SPOILERS
At first glance, TFA is a good movie, provided you don't think about it too much. Plenty of action, a bit of humour, and a good homage to the old cast. However the more I think back over the plot, the more I think 'hang on, I've seen this before...'
Let's start with the pluses. The new leads are pretty decent actors and they certainly grow on you as the story develops, and it was obviously nice to see the original cast back. The new characters are interesting and have scope to be developed well. I liked the way a lot of the close-up landscapes and backdrops were crafted in the real universe and only minimal CGI applied. The lumbering puppets and great costumes and makeup definitely had the feel of the original trilogy. The battle scenes are well-executed and stylish. Best of all, no Jar Jar Binks et all.
Unfortunately the movie should and hopefully will never win awards in terms of script, depth and most of all originality. The story itself is just a blatant rip off of the original trilogy, particularly A New Hope. A list of many, many reasons I can think of are listed below (I'm sure there are more that others can pick up on);
Member of the Rebellion being chased by the Empire. Said member hides secret data in droid. Droid escapes on desert planet. Droid happens to come across a young person strong in the force. Orphan rescues droid from junk traders. Lead antagonist is a Sith Lord who wears a mask and carries a red light-saber. Said Sith was once good, but turned to the Dark Side. Said Sith was/is annoying, stroppy teenager. Said Sith turns out to be related to goodie. Empire builds Death Star. Death Star destroys a planet as an example. Empire has secretive leader who is old, disfigured, and communicates by hologram. Captured rebel is helped to escape by a person disguised as a stormtrooper. Force-strong orphan escapes desert planet aboard Millennium Falcon. Millennium Falcon is fast garbage can and inevitably breaks down. Falcon is chased by Tie Fighters. Despite being a pile of junk and not having flown for years, Falcon beats Tie Fighters. Crew end up in a space bar. Rebellion manages to obtain secret data from droid before Empire does. Death Star finds them and charges up to destroy their planet. One protagonist chickens out and decides to run away. Said protagonist changes their mind and comes back to help. Rebellion infiltrates Empire base to plant explosives to destroy Death Star shields. X-wings and Tie Fighters duel. A main character snuffs it. Inside the Empire base. Killed by a Lightsaber. Remaining goodies scream Noooo!! and somehow beat all the remaining baddies (even being vastly outnumbered and with nearly no military training). Empire troops can't seem to hit anything except scenery. Explosives destroy Death Star shields. Death star destroyed by an X-Wing flying down a long trench. All other main characters somehow escape. Orphan travels to find a Jedi Master to train under. Said Jedi Master has been living alone in mysterious exile on remote planet.
Need I go on? Painfully reminiscent of Episode 4. OK there is a point about not changing a winning formula but come on; is this supposed to be a sequel or a remake? Not to mention the obvious plot holes (a Sith beaten in light-saber combat by a complete amateur?).
Finally; is it me, or are the two lead antagonists played by Voldemort and Snape from Harry Potter?
In summary - could have been worse, could have been a LOT better. Disappointing and predictable.