It's official, Star Wars is a bad kids comedy

Rating: 3/10 (27 December 2017)

A series which once was all about dark themes and raw storytelling (the original trilogy) has been degraded to a marketable product machine that has no actual substance. The story is completely idiotic, having the amount of substance of an episode of Star Wars: Clone Wars, the animated series, not for a major Star Wars film. It was about as compelling as a Jar Jar return.
Technically, it was masterful. The effects were insane, the color palette was great, essentially the film looked great. The sound, obviously, was what kept me in the seat due to the nostalgia; how utterly majestic that soundtrack is. They have done a great job adapting the old sound, keeping its essence but adding on to symbolize moving on from the trilogy.
Unfortunately, the film is JUST pretty to look at, there is no substance, no gritty realism (as realistic as you can get in the star wars universe). Disney is more concerned with selling children's plushes rather than creating a substantial story, which breaks my heart as a Star Wars fan because the entire series has gone from a passion project to a corporate scheme to make money, like Transformers. The claymation and puppets that gave the original trilogy character, those weird, disgusting looking abominations that made the universe truly unique, has been replaced with cgi cute animals that are perfect for Disney to sell.
The grittiness of Star Wars has been replaced with stupid, childish comedy, overall ruining the series for anybody who actually cared about it. Darth Vader literally destroyed an entire planet, killing millions of people, killed his mentor, and nearly killed his kid. There were real motivations and real stakes because Darth Vader was the empire, was the big that the true rebels had to fight. It had comedy, but it wasn't the main focus. This movie was about two fleets racing somewhere, that's basically it. The comedic effect is what prevails over all, and that takes away from what Star Wars truly is at its core.
In conclusion, I might just be a pissed off fan, but I feel that the series is going in a truly corporate direction, and that is why fans hate it. It isn't a Star Wars film, it's essentially an add for their plush toys. It is no Empire. Oh well, at least Jar Jar isn't anywhere to be seen.