I won’t post any spoilers, so in case you haven’t seen the movie yet, feel free to read on.  No more spoilers than those in the trailers.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is a refreshing addition to the Star Wars series.  It touches a lot on the original trilogy, while adding a lot of new stuff to the table.  George Lucas is no longer running the show, and that is very apparent.

The characters in this one are much more believable than the jokes from the prequel trilogy.  Characters seem to have real motivation and you understand why they are doing what they are doing.  You feel Rey’s struggle in the home she made for herself on Jaku, Finn’s rebellion against the Stormtroopers is nicely handled, and Han Solo is a great character as always, becoming jaded from the passing decades.  I could go on about Han Solo and Chewbacca, but I said no spoilers.  Carrie Fischer and Harrison Ford are the same great actors we knew, playing the same great characters we knew, albeit aged quite a bit.  Rey, Finn, and Poe are also great.

To be honest, when the trailers first showed Finn, I was skeptical.  Not due to race or anything stupid like that, but because they were humanizing a stormtrooper.  They’re supposed to be faceless goons!  But the movie calmed my worries, and indeed he turned out to be my favorite new character.

JJ Abrams adds his own take on Star Wars, and that definitely shows in his alien designs.  They closely resemble the designs seen in the new Star Trek movies, especially Maz who seems to be this trilogy’s Yoda.  However, we never lose touch of that Star Wars feel, which is important.  At the very least, let’s be grateful the aliens aren’t the transparent racist stereotypes we saw from the prequels.

Pacing is very good as well.  There is never a dull moment in The Force Awakens, and the action never truly stops.  No political debates, and no awkward teenage dates.

In conclusion, I high recommend this movie.  This movie has everything you loved from the originals with some new special effects and leaving behind everything you hated from the prequels.