Great, not perfect. Still great.

Rating: 8/10 (31 December 2015)

Let's get the obvious out of the way. And this review will contain minor spoilers...
It indeed shares many parallels with the original Star Wars, which would be more of a complain from my part if the original Star Wars didn't have so many parallels with properties that don't even belong to Lucasfilm or any affiliate. It did bother me a bit that most of the things happening on screen had been seen before in the same franchise, the first time I saw it at least. But the more I thought about it, the more I came to accept it. Am I a bit biased because it's Star Wars? Perhaps. But sliding that aside, the movie is beautiful and astounding. The music as always was majestic, the visuals were amazing, the chemistry between characters was a charm, the newcomers really stuck. I particularly enjoyed how they made it part of the story the influence that the old trilogy has on the present/future. Kylo Ren can be describe as an unstable, dangerously emotional, Vader worshiping, problem child. He tries so hard to be like him that he goes beyond his desires to appear more menacing. Finn and Rey are a delight. They never felt force but they weren't shadowed by the nostalgic weight of the original cast, which was a treat. Poe Dameron was a great character too. He brought up the first humor element and it worked. All the humor worked organically. None of these new characters felt like they were being forced down our throats and they still blend into the whole landscape, making us feel invested on them and curious about what's on their future. The movie is an amazing setup for the new trilogy. It leaves more to the imagination than what unveils and it didn't rely on great plot twists or reveals to be entertaining. That's what it was more than anything, entertaining. It honored the memories of what we know of the franchise and it opened a door to the new generation with a lot of promise. It blossom from something that we recognized and shoots towards something that we'll discover together.