This is not a remake of Episode 4!! It is however the perfect start to a trilogy!

Rating: 8/10 (20 December 2015)

For those who think they know about Star Wars and deem this a reboot due to its similarities with A New Hope. They obviously have done no research into what they claim to be a fan of at all. The movie, just Episode 1 and Episode 4 are always meant to follow the classic template of the hero's journey as stipulated in Joseph Campbell's "Hero With a Thousand Faces". Lucas has talked about this time and time again and JJ Abrams clearly is fan enough to stick to that.
The point is to show that events and circumstances in time always repeat themselves despite the protagonist be it father, son, or whatever Rey's relation to the Skywalker line yet to be revealed. The ramifications of the choices they make is what defines the 2nd and 3rd pasts of each trilogy within the entire saga but the 1st movies in each trilogy are bound by that template.
Phantom Menace and A New hope both took their heroes from desolate worlds, accepting a calling to a higher purpose, responsibility and adventure, a mentor figure, a loss etc.. These templates are essential to those first movies. What you should not be doing is focusing ONLY on the similarities so much that you fail to notice and enjoy all the new elements that make each film different from the next.
The movie weighs in a lot of homage to elements that have gone before, the feeling of familiarity is what you're meant to have, its not rebooting or remaking anything in doing so. What it does well is introduce new characters in a dynamic not presented before in the saga against similar threats of the past. There is no princess in peril and there is not double-act of robots trying on a secret mission to find an old Jedi to safely deliver plans to rebel base. There is however a similar circumstances to those regarding finding a lost Jedi and pieces of a map to his whereabouts to maintain the similar theme for the sake of the patterns of reassurances in patterns from the other two movies (A New Hope and Phantom Menace)
Its the best shot, best performed and most dramatic Star Wars film since The Empire Strikes Back 35 years ago. Basically makes the prequel films look like X-Box video games. Shooting on film, using real life locations and building real sets makes a hell of a lot of differences to the visuals and having a director who is more concerned about getting performances instead of digital alterations in the editing room has resulted in a movie with a genuine soul. Gone are Lucas's attempts to make a science out of the magic and mystery of the Force, here its back to being that mystical energy field and used as such with more invention beyond simply lifting stuff and throwing it. Light and dark side perfectly showcased for their benefits when calm or in rage making for an excellent contrast in characterization on screen.
Do not let the cynical and uncultured fans who lack the ability to read beyond the surface of basic film convince you that this is just a remake or you will miss out on a rare thing, an actual well made and genuinely good Star Wars film!