The callbacks to Episodes IV-VI were a bit excessive. And it reminded me of the Poochie episode of The Simpsons, where Homer suggests that whenever Poochie isn&#x27;t on the screen, all the other characters should be asking &quot;where&#x27;s Luke...I mean Poochie?&quot;<p>I wish Kylo Ren got more of a character arc, but the Sith rarely do. They&#x27;re basically just cardboard foils for the heroes except for Anakin&#x2F;Vader. JJ, are you listening? My money is waiting for an opening day ticket to the Kylo Ren prequel.<p>Overall, it looked and felt like a Star Wars movie, more than the prequels ever did. But it was a 2015 Star Wars movie by JJ Abrams instead of a 1977 Star Wars movie by the director of THX-1138. The First Order was more organic, more believable than the sterile, efficient sci-fi bad guys of the Empire. Kylo Ren&#x27;s temper tantrums wouldn&#x27;t have fit into George Lucas&#x27;s Star Wars universe, but it added depth to his character. It gave him a weakness. It humanized him.<p>Another case in point: motion control cameras and Steadicam were cutting edge filmmaking when A New Hope was filmed (I think Steadicam was only used for the speederbike sequence in RTJ). Shaky hand-held cameras are a JJ Abrams trademark.<p>I love the new diversity to the Stormtroopers. Hopefully it&#x27;ll draw more die-hard fans from all walks of life into the family. It also contrasts them sharply with the Clone Troopers. The Jedi built an army of disposable cannon fodder. Who&#x27;s the bad guys here?<p>It wasn&#x27;t a perfect movie, but neither were Episode IV-VI. It was still fun for all ages and I just may duck out for another showing today since I have the day off.