The ANH parallels that everyone has mentioned are obvious, too obvious to not be intentional. Given the setup, it actually made some sense in universe with Kylo's Vader worship, and they obviously wanted to lure the audience back with a sense of familiarity before branching out more with the new characters and such in future movies. I was fine with it, but the overall story wasn't terrible original. Everything else felt much more fresh though.
BB-8 was a star. The "acting" was cute and hilarious, especially the exchange with Rey and Fin on the Falcon. I'm not sure if anyone else has noted it, but BB-8's voice sounds exactly like the Bebot iPhone app. Maybe they used it?
Some of the old elements were a bit much at times, but it didn't really bother me, it just felt unlikely. Luke's lightsaber was just in that building the whole time, the Falcon was just sitting there as the first ship in range, a few other minor things. It just made the universe feel a bit smaller.
I loved the fighting style all around. Those stormtroopers were going down in all sorts of glorious ways, and I never got tired of seeing them fly. The lightsaber fights weren't pretty, they were frantic, a little clumsy, and much like a real sword fight where you're both going to get hurt, and it's not going to be a 15 minute choreographed dance routine. The lack of skill of the characters made the fights much better.
The new characters were all great. Fin, Poe, and Rey carried the movie really well, and they've all got a lot of room for development. They've definitely set it up like the OT, with some big reveals, and others that you can see are yet to come. The dialogue all felt much more real than the prequels, and the humour flowed naturally from it for every character. Han and Chewy made an amazing return, and were a ton of fun.
I really didn't like Kylo Ren or Snoke at all though. Kylo Ren was frat-boy copycat criminal, and Snoke was just CG creepy. The CG characters all felt a little creepy compared to the physical characters for me.
I also didn't like the ending. They spend the whole movie trying to find Luke, but BB-8's map is incomplete. Then at the end R2-D2 just decides to wake up now and had the other 90% of the map the whole time. It felt like a rushed ending to set up the next movie. Maybe I missed something. Luke looked awesome in the Jedi robes with his contractually obligated beard though.
Overall I really enjoyed it. I don't consider myself a Star Wars "fan" though, so now it's like I'm on the opposite side as the whole JJ Star Trek thing. :lol It felt like a long movie, but not because it was slow or badly paced, just because it was packed with a lot to catch up on and establish. It flowed quite well.
) I look forward to reviews a little down the road after critics and fans have had time to digest everything.
