OK. So I finally have a chance to weigh in on the movie. Loved. It. To. Death. I've always been a prequel supporter, but after seeing Force Awakens, I can now see where the big flaw was in the prequels.
They demystified everything. Suddenly we knew what a Jedi was and how flawed they could be, and what was in their blood that gave them power, and what they were allowed to do and not-do. The status of Jedi went from god-like-being to ninja-with-a-lightsaber. Now I ENJOYED watching ninjas with lightsabers, but that sense of mystery was gone by the time the prequels were done doing their thing.
So what Force Awakens did right was to bring back that little bit of wonder. The Force is a mystery again. We don't know what it can do. We see it do things we never knew it could do before. It adds that little dash of fairy tale back into Star Wars.
Gonna see it on my own a second time tonight in Imax 3D. (Tyrant can't stand the 3D so I had to settle for a lousy 2 dimensions..) Should be a good time! :^)