All of the professional critics have their undies in a bunch that Disney didn't screw the meatloaf with the film. Yes, There Be Merchandising Here. Who is surprised at this? But it's worth seeing in the theater.

It's a very good film, definitely a child of the first 3 films with a side of "the second trilogy might as well not have happened", interesting characters (the leads are a woman and a black guy so racists and misogynists are pissed, waahhh), no Jar Jar and nothing like it, and lots of excellent practical effects instead of CGI. The story definitely quotes A New Hope quite liberally, but I didn't have a problem with it. Abrams and Disney put their hats in the ring in a very definite manner, so good on them.

The 20 person group I saw the film with loved it. Loved it. A full round of applause after the film finished and people were chattering excitedly about what they had just seen. There was no point in the film when I felt the need to look at my watch and the 2.5 hours was over before I knew it.

Great action, great fan service, no embarrassing dialog (well, embarrassing to Lucas I suppose -- dude, this is how it's done). There's a realistic love interest. The Big Bad is actually a real person with real feelings. Plenty of humor, plenty of pathos; in other words a great space opera.

There is one goofy major plot point, but in the end it doesn't have that great of an effect on the movie and the characters actually make fun of it in the film. It's not a perfect film: there are unexplored plot points, the aforementioned goofy plot point, and some portions that seemed rushed mean that it's not the best film it could have been. Additionally, Williams' score somewhat vanished into the background because Abrams' fast pacing never really gives it a chance to shine, unlike Lucas' long set pieces.

I may go see it in the theater a second time. The visuals would be wasted on a small screen.

Too many critics can't figure this out.