After waiting 32 and half years for a GOOD Star Wars movie, especially following the less than well-received and often distasteful prequels, we’ve arrived at a time where love and appreciation for the original Star Wars trilogy couldn’t be any more heightened. With such a huge ramp-up following George Lucas’ sale of his beloved franchise to Walt Disney Studios, the new film is nothing short of a major reaffirmation that this influential space opera can still thrill with great emotion against a grand galactic canvas!

Director J.J. Abrams, having grown up adoring and appreciating the works of Lucas and Steven Spielberg through such films as STAR WARS, JAWS, CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND and RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, was absolutely the right choice to helm such an undertaking; not only creating a rollicking adventure that returns beloved characters while introducing fresh and fascinating new ones, but also restoring fan-faith, taken away by Lucas’ misguided and bloated pre-trilogy.

Daisy Ridley brilliantly stands out as Rey; a young scavenger girl on a desert planet who has little idea that within her lays a great power. Ridley, in her first major motion picture, handily takes the reigns from the STAR WARS trio of Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher, in fact perfectly becoming the embodiment of all three of their characters; Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Princess Leia, by film’s end while never feeling shoehorned into these personas for the audience’s benefit. This is a natural fit for Rey at the hands of veteran STAR WARS screenwriter Lawrence Kasden, who warmly returns us to that galaxy far, far away that we adore so very much.

John Boyega is Finn, a stormtrooper who defects from the First Order, a group that has formed out of the shadows of the former Empire, helping a captured crack pilot from the Resistance fighting the First Order (Oscar Isaac) who must retrieve an important map that will lead to a missing Luke Skywalker. Boyega is another welcome addition to this new cast, bringing a fun comedic sense to a confused character whose attempting to pick up the pieces of his broken existence.

Oscar Isaac is the third in this new trinity of STAR WARS main characters, and perhaps his path will widen as we get into the next movie following THE FORCE AWAKENS. Isaac’s Poe Dameron stands as a more supporting character, even though he certainly has the bravado to mix it up nicely with Rey and Finn when things heat up in the next chapter.

Adam Driver’s powerful performance as Kylo Ren takes up Darth Vader’s mantel in a much more dangerous manner, and that’s part of what makes him such a great villain. The son of Han and Leia, he brings an even more entwined and uncomfortable foreboding to those fighting for good, and his ultimate act against his own father will undoubtedly fire this new trilogy with even more emotion and struggle. This is a much more conflicted and deadly character than his grandfather ever was, and surely a means for unpredictability as this grand tale moves forward.

Of the original three heroes, Harrison Ford’s Han Solo leads this story, along with the ever-faithful Chewbacca at his side. Han becomes like a father to Rey, with Kasden’s familiar and snappy writing bringing the captain of the Millennium Falcon to life once more just as we remembered him from the original STAR WARS trilogy. Carrie Fisher returns as (now) General Leia Organa, the leader of the Resistance. The scenes between her and Ford, albeit only two, are some of the best nostalgia moments for fans to savor, but certainly not all.

John Williams once again returns to compose yet another rich Star Wars score, here bringing a renewed vitality to the saga with fresh new themes, especially Rey's, and a wide expanse of music that also harkens back to the original STAR WARS 2-record soundtrack from 1977.

Some naysayers have complained that THE FORCE AWAKENS borrows too heavily from the original STAR WARS (sorry, I won’t call it STAR WARS, EPISODE IV: A NEW RIDICULOUSLY LONG TITLE THAT’S COMPLETELY UNNESSECARY), as well as other quibbles that seem to come from some fans that will never be happy with anything. And yet I point to George Lucas’ prequel missteps and the crush of fan-dissatisfaction that followed for why Disney and J.J. Abrams felt they needed to work extra hard to win back audience confidence. While these beats are certainly self-evident and acknowledged, they never detract from the overall nostalgic effect the movie showers on its core audience with wonderful emotional resonance!

I’d also have to say that shout-outs to the original trilogy, naturally and pleasingly sprinkled throughout the film, are never as forcefully ham-fisted as in Abrams’ previous two STAR TREK movies.

By metaphoric example and comparison, the new STAR WARS is like a sexy model in a (metal) bikini walking by with a large bowl of cherries, saying, "Mmmm, you like cherries, don't you?", while STAR TREK's approach was to have some big burly guy with his shirt off leaping into a pick-up truck full of cherries, jumping up and down and stomping them with his work boots while yelling, "YOU GUYS LIKE CHERRIES??!! YEAH, CHERRIES ARE SO GOOD!!!" Oh, and then he explodes.

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS is a true gift to Star Wars fans that the prequels never gave, and that actually FEELS like a STAR WARS movie, thanks to J.J. Abrams, Lawrence Kasdan, Walt Disney Studios and the cast and crew! I can’t wait to see what happens next and am counting the days now until the December 2016 release of ROGUE ONE and EPISODE VIII in May 2017! ★★★★ (4 stars)