The Force Awakens will be nostalgic for fanatics and fun for casual fans.

Rating: 10/10 (20 December 2015)

No movie has had more anticipation than Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Fans have been waiting over 30 years for a sequel to the beloved franchise. The mediocre prequels not only didn't live up to fans expectations, but had many lose hope of whether Episode 7 can return the franchise to its former glory. Fans don't need to worry. Star Wars is back.
For many reasons this movie feels like the original Star Wars trilogy. It returns to the focus on practical effects that made the original movies so imaginative and inventive. This blends well the CG effects of today. The return of classic characters will excite fans and give them a sense of nostalgia that they have been waiting so long for. Some are used more than others, but none of them feel forced and they all fit well into the story.
The thing that makes this feel the most like Star Wars is that it's fun. There is a sense of adventure and humor that wasn't present in the prequel trilogy. Although seeing the old characters provide a lot of this humor, the new ones are the stars that make this film fantastic. Rey, Finn, and Poe all have a lot of chemistry and get the audience to care about them almost immediately. Kylo Ren is an interesting villain that, in many ways, is much different from the iconic Darth Vader.
The need to introduce these new characters and explain what the old ones have been doing for thirty years, the movie needed to have a fast pace. It was sometimes a little too ambitious for its own good, with some plot points not getting enough development and feeling forced into the plot. It could've shown a little more exposition on the state the galaxy was in, but instead opted to just throw the viewer into the universe. Although it's disappointing some things were not explored more, there seems to be room in future movies to explore these characters further.
With wonderful new and old characters and a feel that is reminiscent of the original Star Wars movies that we all loved so much, Star Wars: The Force Awakens will be nostalgic for fanatics and fun for casual fans. It's an amazingly well made movie and gives us a new hope for future films in a galaxy far, far away.