Teared up several times...

Rating: 9/10 (22 December 2015)

OK, so I was a Star Wars fan since I was a child as many of you are. There is NOTHING that will ever meet the expectations I have for Star Wars as nothing can hold me (now that I'm 36) with the same child- like innocence and awe that I held for the first trilogy. Many of us saw A New Hope as children and the droids, aliens, weapons, etc. were all new and really cool. Now, I'm older and none of that stuff impresses me like it did when I was a kid. Let's get real - the first time I saw Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in the theater it was awesome as was TMNT II - totally thought Ninja Rap was cool because I was 11. I tried to show these movies to my kids - and was looked at with the subtle-yet-powerful disappointment that only a child can convey who looks at his dad rapping the song with Vanilla Ice.
That said, no one, not even George Lucas himself in his 2nd trilogy, came as close to those original films as J.J. Abrams did. I never thought to look at political messages, social commentary, etc. in the first one - all things I see now, but as Obi Wan taught, we have to let go! This movie was great and I literally teared up when I saw Han and Chewie the first time (including the trailer), when I saw Han look expectantly to see Leia and she stepped off the ship, when I saw Luke...all of it was an emotional ride from my nostalgia.
Now, could all of us in our minds make a better movie with things WE would love to see? Sure. Would 99% of the people who saw "our version" complain that it fell short of expectations and lacked whatever. Absolutely. There is no one that will completely re- create the same feelings of awe and joy the original trilogy did, but then again, how could it? If you really do see things with the same degree of wonder you had when you were 7, well...I don't think I have to say more.
This movie was great, it did exactly what this Star Wars fan wanted. I gave it 9 out of 10 because Screen Junkies has ruined me with the comment that all of this could have been avoided with an email. Abrams should have thought of that - it's the future, we know about email now (Lucas didn't in 1977), so a slight tweak to the story (remember, he didn't have Joseph Campbell - Lucas did) and it could have avoided me saying, "wait, so a hotmail attachment could have saved this whole thing?"