I view it like this: The EU is not destroyed. Authors have said they will continue the books no matter what, and the way I see it, why care about what Disney said? it was only to give J.J Abrams some more breathing room in the movie. I mean, can you imagine working at a factory, and there's this shelf full of boxes, and your boss says " Try and fit another box in here ". It's be near impossible, and if I was J.J Abrams, I'd want to make my own story and have my own creativity. It makes story telling extremely narrow and could possibly be boring, since all you can do is film and edit.
That being said, sure, let the movies be their own thing, and let the books be their own thing. I've never gotten into trouble about talking about EU as if it's cannon, have I? I still get into debates about Kyle Katarn vs Luke Skywalker and such and no one gives a flap about that. In fact, it's more of a context thing telling us exactly why the new movie doesn't follow the books. It's totally fine with me.
And yes, personally I loved the movie. I just wished there was more screen time for each scene. It just seemed to move too fast for me. like, I wished it took more time for Finn to decide to leave the Empire. I wish that it took more time for Poe and Finn to become friends-- it was kind of unnaturally fast for me. Han and Chewie kinda just '' showed up '' to get the Falcon. It didn't take very long at all and was extremely abrupt. I also wish Poe had more screen time as well, I just loved him.
That being the cons ^ let's look at the pros v
- Great story telling, just faithful to the originals.
- Great acting, perhaps even better than the originals' actors.
- Outstanding CGI and Practical effects. As a matter of fact, to me, the Practical effects looks more fake than the CGI!
- The Sound design is just flawless. The saber sounds get a Gold Star, as I could '' feel '' them igniting in the IMAX theaters.
- The artists get a definite plus, as I could stare at Kylo Ren's, The First Order's, The Resistance's, and Misc uniforms, blasters, clothing and such for hours on end.
- The Lightsaber choreography, though not as pretty looking as the prequels, felt raw and real, as if two people were fighting to survive and win at all costs.
- Harlious moments are all throughout the movie, just balanced with serious and gritty moments. I literally doubled over in laughing at BB8's '' Thumbs up '' moment.
All in all, I would give the Force Awakens no less than a 9/10, which makes me like it WAY more than the prequels, and POSSIBLY more than the Originals. It's straight and true to the Star wars franchise and will no doubt to me be the start of something truly groundbreaking.
