There is some good and some bad

Rating: 7/10 (13 May 2016)

THE GOOD:
1. They tried to remain true to the original look of the SW movies. Questionable whether they should have done this... we have excellent CG technology for a reason, but I can appreciate the sentiment behind it. 2. They had such an awesome actress for Rey - they really could have done something amazing. Some quarterstaff fighting, some more climbing. 3. Awesome outfits. Rey's outfit was perfect. 4. Excellent artistic scenes. Wow. I loved the scene where the general and dark Jedi have an audience with the evil Supreme Leader Snoke. That light that shone in through the big window. It looks like some of the concept art you find on Art sites. They really should get artists to take part in movies more. 5. BB-8 was too cute. I found its method of transport to be better suited to uneven terrain. Better than R2's feet. Simplistic design = win. 6. So cool that they got some of the original actors back for this. Loved it. Wish they would do something similar for Firefly/Serenity. Pretty please? 7. I loved that a certain person died. Saw it coming a mile away, but I'm glad they followed through.
THE BAD:
1. It was basically a remake of A New Hope. I expected a new story. 2. You would think that the First Order would learn from the Empire's mistakes - a central power source that blows up everything? Really? Make them blow that up and "Oh No! It's still going. We need to find the back up." 3. More people could have died. Seriously.
>>>SPOILER ALERT > do no read the following > look away now if you haven't seen it yet.
Here goes: Make Poe die taking out that secondary power source mentioned in 2 above. Let the defector storm trooper die - because, hello! he is a normal human - we would decapitate ourselves if we tried to pick up a light-saber. He would not have last 3 seconds with a Dark Jedi. Why do I even need to explain this?
4. Unbelievable. Really. There is no way Rey would have taken to the force that easily. Even Anakin was considered too old to learn and he was a kid. There is no way she would have defeated the Dark Jedi in a one on one duel. Even Luke lost his hand and almost died the first time he fought Darth Vader. They could have had her hurt - maybe stabbed through the flesh of her arm - and have had the fight be interrupted because the super death star planet thingie was exploding and they each had to retreat to their ships.
>>>SPOILERS OVER.
5. Predictable. 6. Anticlimactic. 7. Maybe the wrong face for the dark lord? Maybe they should not have revealed him at all in this movie? Create some mystery. 8. Who are Rey's parents? According to the books I have a feeling I know who it is, but they are obviously planning something with this, maybe a reveal in the next movie. 9. Also, the defector storm trooper? Shame on him for killing his friends. One would think he would feel a little conflicted. 10. Ending sequence was beautiful, but too long. I was thinking "should someone be saying something?"
Can't wait to see what Sheldon has to say about this movie on TBBT.