Redeems the Prequels and Offers "A New Hope" for the Franchsie

Rating: 9/10 (28 December 2015)

Episode VII fully redeems the infamous Star Wars prequels. It wouldn't be surprising to learn that JJ Abrams and Lawrence Kasden studied the prequels' many misfires and used them as a guide for what not to do in crafting a new generation Star Wars movie.
Instead of gratuitously forcing in familiar characters like C-3PO and R2D2 as the prequels did, Episode VII reveals each original- trilogy character with a deep sense of iconic value- be it Han and Chewie boarding the Millennium Falcon for the first time in three decades, or the brief war room cameo of Admiral "It's a Trap!" Ackbar.
The wooden acting and stilted dialogue of the self-serious prequels is gone and replaced by great chemistry and a witty banter reminiscent of the originals.
Where the prequels were bathed in cartoonish CGI, Episode VII chooses miniature models and practical effects in a number of places.
The Force Awakens essentially remakes the plot of 1977's A New Hope, but in a way that feels decidedly homage and not derivative.
All the same plot-points are there: an opening Stormtrooper assault, a charming spherical droid who sets off on a desert planet carrying important data, a young local who may have facility with the Force who finds the droid, hooks up with roguish allies and flees the desert world on a "piece of junk" freighter that is said to have made the Kessel Run in 12 (not 14) parsecs. There are smugglers, princess-generals, colorful cantina patrons, and a villain in a black mask. A beloved mentor is struck down by a light saber and there is a climactic X-Wing raid at the end to destroy a planet-killing super-weapon.
Not all the choices work. I wasn't a big fan of the new evil overlord Snoke who felt a bit Harry Potter and was literally out-of-scale. And although it's easy to imagine as we look around our own world and see how often today's successful revolution becomes tomorrow's power vacuum, more exposition about how things went from the joyful Ewok party at the end of Episode VI to the dystopian First Order would have fleshed the story out more.
But those are minor points. The Force Awakens accomplishes its most important mission: to infuse nostalgia and reverence for the original trilogy into a blueprint of future Star Wars installments. This movie leaves one with a sense that Star Wars is now properly calibrated for a future trajectory that can, as best as possible, retain the spirit of the George Lucas film that changed movie-making in 1977.
Episodes I-III left a decade- long anxiety that there were no good Star Wars movies left to be made. Episode VII should leave Star Wars fans with – let's say a new hope- that the original magic can be transmitted far into a future sensibility.