Way, way better than the prequels...review from a huge fan

Rating: 8/10 (20 December 2015)

I'm almost 40, which means I saw two of the original three movies in the theater as a kid. I had all of the old toys, stupidly threw them all into the bathtub and wrecked them and constantly begged my parents for my own light saber.
Take all of the annoying garbage from the prequels and toss them out. The horribly sappy dialogue, the horrible acting, constantly changing outfits every scene and annoying characters (Jar Jar) that refuse to go away. You'll thankfully get none of that this time.
When I saw that JJ Abrams was in charge, I knew at the very least we'd get a solid attempt with this new trilogy. We definitely got that, and a little bit more. Just a little. It felt like he knew what the old die hards wanted to see. He also managed to find some really good actors. I knew Oscar Isaac would be good, but I didn't know the Rey or FIN characters at all. All three did a great job, but I was particularly impressed with Adam Driver. Being a great goof-off on Girls doesn't necessary mean you can be a key character in a Star Wars movie, but he did a super job. It's a grittier, more human movie with far more interesting characters.
For the most part Abrams played it safe, nailing the action scenes and adding some quirky CG animal characters. But he did try a few things that worked. For example, we've never seen a non-Jedi handle a light saber, and I thought that was very cool. There could have been more light saber action, but what you do see is very well done and believable.
The real test was taking my six year old daughter to the movie, the most exciting part for me. She hasn't watched any of the old movies yet, but she spent most of the movie with her eyes half-covered. That's always a good thing. She loved it, and now she's asking me to play the first movie for her to see. So thanks Disney, you passed the test.