Really liked the movie. Conflicting because as much as I grew up with the OT I came of age with the EU stuff. These new movies may be more like the pretend stories to me than the books were, at least until I see how this is all meant to come together (which is the one advantage this series could have over the abandoned EU--it may yet congeal into something cohesive in a way the patchwork process of the books never could.)
Enjoyed the humor so much...Threepio's intro as a great example. "You may not recognize me..." it's been so long moviegoing-wise since something he said was genuinely funny from his naiveté and self-involvement and not forced. My favorite moment in the whole movie was probably Finn's desperate thirst driving him over to that dog bowl, and only quitting because the dog chased him off!
Enjoyed the general theme that what we believe about ourselves is what we become. Finn's arc epitomized it--he began as a stormtrooper, lies about being in the resistance as a means to escape, and in the end becomes a resistance fighter so thoroughly he is willing to give his life for the cause. Han and Leia too, you have to figure at some point they were happy together in parental roles, but after the Jedi training tragedy they both reverted to their earlier roles of smuggler and freedom fighter rather than deal with their loss as parents. Luke too, he gives up on the obvious growth of becoming a Master to a new generation to settling for life as the last of the Jedi. And Kylo Ren...the catalyst of everyone else's arc...struggling to believe he can be a fully-realized Vader (Not even Vader was strong enough to "pause" a laserblast!) to the point that he will kill his father to prove the completeness of his fall, even though he hasn't actually made that fall completely yet. It all harkens back to my favorite prequel quote: "Your focus determines your reality." That's the real message of Star Wars, it seems to me.
When I try to plug Rey into the themes, we just don't have enough pieces of her story yet to see what exactly is going on. She resists the lightsaber's call, insists she needs to return to Jakku to find her family, and in the end is the only one who goes to Luke...for training as a Jedi, one must infer. What are the implications of that from a storytelling point of view? I mean, it says something that Leia didn't go to recruit him into helping the Resistance, but Rey went. Always been more of a Luke fan than a Han fan, so I am very interested in what lies ahead.
Every moment with Chewbacca rang true to the character as we knew him. On the flip side, while I take issue with Luke turning his back on everyone, I can not accept that Artoo just shut off for 20 years. Even if Luke had some grand plan he was in on, Artoo would've been the first one to stop him from such a selfish move. Artoo was always the biggest hero and risk taker of the gang, him sitting in the corner on pause just doesn't ring true.
I liked that it was a Han Solo movie more than anything else as far as tying into the OT. Han dubbing Finn "Big Deal" was great and felt right. Han and Rey--again, we'll be able to look at that better as her mysterious origins are explored. I can see her being his daughter, his son's cousin (if she is Luke's daughter...since I never heard marriage mentioned, I am assuming the galaxy just isn't civil enough to have time for wedding ceremonies anymore) or some random stranger who impressed him with her raw talent and was offered a spot on the crew the same way Luke was in the original. And honestly, I have no preference at this point. I am happy with how it all played out, even if Han's death genuinely tore out my heart.
My wife really liked the movie but couldn't get past the fact that a stormtrooper's lifetime indoctrination ought to make Finn's immediate revulsion at his first deployment not believable. I like the idea that if he is force sensitive then that is what could have enabled this in him (and now that I've mentioned it to her so does she.)
And it blew my 6-year old son away, too. He was at turns laughing, excited, scared, and sad in the end. I was 6 when I saw ESB in the theater, and I could tell he left feeling exactly the same way I did back then. He had to know what happens next! Can't give it a more positive endorsement than that!