Star Wars:
The Force Awakens

4 Waffles!

This is no Phantom Menace.

Here’s the quick plot summary (which you learn in the first two minutes of the movie, so don’t start screaming about spoilers).

It’s about 30 years after Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, but Luke Skywalker has vanished and The First Order, which is rising from the ashes of the evil Empire and using the dark side of the force to do so, will stop at nothing to find him. They are waging all out war on The Republic, and their leader, General Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher).

Sure, some twists seem too convenient.

Sure, you will feel like many elements from the previous Star Wars movies are being employed here as well.

Sure, it looks like Carrie Fisher has had more botox than all of the Housewives of Beverly Hills and New Jersey combined.

Yet, Star Wars: The Force Awakens is awesome!

Writer/director J.J. Abrams, with his co-writers Lawrence Kasdan and Michael Arndt, has captured the spirit and tone of the original trilogy to take us all to a galaxy far far away where good and evil battle, heroes are forged from circumstance and the mystic force guides fate.

It’s swashbuckling fun wrapped around a Shakespearean tale as everyone involved with the film is willing to have a sense of humor about it when appropriate, and grip your soul with drama when it’s time.

While fans will be thrilled with the appearance of familiar characters, the new ones fit in just fine. The rolling soccer ball, BB-8, much like R2D2 before him, turns out to have more charisma than Adam Sandler as he wins over the audience with a childlike excitement and love teamed with rich emotions you don’t expect from a droid.

Then, our new trio of leads, Rey (Daisy Ridley), Finn (John Boyega) and Poe (Oscar Isaac), become the new heart and soul of the Star Wars universe.

Isaac brings an undeniable roguish charm and attitude as the best darn fighter pilot in the galaxy.

Boyega is wonderful as the conflicted man trying to find himself after years of forced conformity, while Ridley is a classic heroine in every positive sense of the word with power, vulnerability and guile.

Abrams perfectly mixes the old and new, but truly amazes the audience with constant allusions to the Star Wars universe we know and love. From images to storylines to themes to costumes, Star Wars: The Force Awakens proves to be a welcome continuation of the mythology we loved as kids, which reminds us of the past, but moves the story forward in a new direction I am eager to see come alive on screen.

Ultimately, Star Wars: The Force Awakens wins us over because it is about hope. In our world, where evil and greed always run amok and trample on those who stand for what is right and just, we need those reminders that good can win.

Let yourself feel like you are 8-years old again and check it out.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is rated PG-13 for sci-fi action violence.