Okay, let's get this out of the way right now: This movie is fantastic. It's everything we were hoping to get out of the prequels. It's well-paced, action packed, creative, and visually stunning. I can't remember being happier watching a movie. At certain points I was actually stressed because I was afraid the movie would end soon. If the movie had been four hours long, I'd still have come out saying, "Just five more minutes." It's not perfect, but it's easily better than any of the prequels, and at least as good as the worst of the original trilogy.
That said, a lot of the scenes were rehashes of scenes from earlier movies. There were many times when I found myself thinking, "This is just like that scene in A New Hope." But that's okay, because everything that was redone, was redone much better. The writing was better, the acting was better, and the visuals were much more crisp. When I talk about visuals, I'm not just saying the special effects were better. I mean the scenes were shot so much more dramatically, really pulling you into the movie.
I will say, a couple of the CGI characters were too cartoony. One evil character in particular looked very much like a silly caricature of Gollum... and he was supposed to be scary. We saw it in 3D, and it was excellent. I bought 3D tickets by accident, and I was afraid I would regret it, but I'm very glad I did. I do still plan to see it in 2D, but if you're on the fence, see it in 3D.
I like the new characters, though I was surprised there weren't more of them. I was expecting to have to learn half a dozen new names, but I found I'd already subliminally memorized them from the toys and other media.
Anyway, there's not much else I can say without spoilers, and there's little point in this review anyway. I can't imagine anyone reading this blog who isn't already a Star Wars fan, and I can't imagine any Star Wars fan skipping this movie. But if you're worried about how Disney is going to handle the franchise, you can put your mind at rest. I was skeptical, but I now have high hopes for the future of Star Wars. It's in better hands than ever.
This is probably the vaguest blog I've ever written, but I wanted to get all that down before the negative nerf herders of the internet swoop down and pick the movie apart like a pack of womp rats. I am officially declaring it right now, before they have a chance to go too far:
If you don't like this movie, you aren't a true Star Wars fan.
(I don't really mean that... like what you want, and call yourself a fan if you want. But I don't want to hear a lot of stupid complaints from people who consider themselves Star Wars fans.)
