Yes, I Saw Star Wars

I seem to be one of the few in my blog list not talking about the movie.  Saw it the week after Christmas, so almost two weeks ago.   

To be honest, both of us thought it was a good movie, a well done movie, with a lot of fun stuff in it, but neither of us walked out of it going, "Wow!  That was fun!".  We've done that on more than one of the Marvel Universe movies, so they've made more of an impression on us than Episode 7. 

It's not that there's really anything wrong with it.  The new kids are good, there were a few scenes that surprised me, and there were scenes that came across entirely different in the movie than the impressions I got from the several trailers ("Chewie; we're home" for one). 

I suppose, as others have pointed out, the fact that people aren't publicly complaining about it means it must have been pretty good, and it was pretty good.  If they had really barfed up the series, people would have been complaining like they did about Jar Jar Binks.  No such issues this time. 

But maybe the key reason is "Chewie; we're home".  We're at home in this universe.  The characters are familiar, the scenes are familiar - whether the wrecked Star Destroyers, Imperial Walkers or the Millennium Falcon - and we have a deep tie to the story line.  Those more inclined to think deep thoughts about movies than me commented that grandparents of my age could take our grandchildren to see the movie and pass on some of the sense of wonder and awe we felt when the opening credits receded off into the distance. 

There are reports Disney has big plans for the Star Wars universe, adding separately produced movies along the arc of the main universe we've just seen (the Episode 7, 8, 9 story arc) which are expected to be focusing on key characters.  There's said to be a movie per year until 2020 already in the production pipeline.  We'll be seeing much more of this universe.