The worst Star Wars. This is Episode IV except in 3D. Literally.

Rating: 4/10 (16 January 2016)

Growing up with Star Wars adds some weirdness to critiquing it. For instance, I was of the generation too young to find Ewoks or Jar Jar Binks annoying, though I'm pretty sure I knew Jake Lloyd (had to look that up...) was a terrible actor, even for a 9-year-old. I loved all the movies I through VI.
Now I'm an adult for the next phase of Star Wars, and I think this is by far the worst. This new episode is just an oh-so-self-aware remake of Episode IV. And when I say "remake of Epidode IV" I mean it has the exactly that. There's a young whipersnapper who discovers a latent ability with the force. She lives on a desert planet. There is a droid with some secret plans that falls into her hands. She is helped by mercenary but basically good smuggler. There's a bad guy with a father-son relationship to a good guy. There's another evil empire with "a device capable of destroying an entire planet" (guess what happens in the end). This, bespeckled with periodic awkward points where some classic character happens to force their way back into the narrative. Oh hey CPO, R2, Leah, Han, etc. I get the whole self-aware self-referentialiality of it all, I guess, but to me it ended up basically boring.
But since when was Star Wars about plot? Good point, it's always been about spectacular space world visualizations, kooky creatures, ships, battles. And here too this latest Star wars falls short. Once again its an updated Episode IV, but instead of stop motion, the x-wings are in CGI. Few to no new ships, worlds, creatures, battles.
I think many folks discounted Episodes I, II, and III for terrible acting and a poor plot. But I would counter that they did what Star Wars does best, best. The visuals were stunning. The sheer imaginative power was inspiring. Incredible battles in land air sea and space. Nothing creatively innovative like that is in The Force Awakens except now R2-D2 is round and "Darth Vader"'s lightsaber has little side blades. Yawn.