After 10 years, the “Star Wars” movie franchise comes back to life with the seventh movie in the series, “Star Wars The Force Awakens”. Warning: It is highly recommended to watch Episodes (movies) “A New Hope”, “The Empire Strikes Back” and “Return of the Jedi” to understand seventh film and get the feel of the series. But if you want the whole story, watch all previous six movies before watching the new film.

Directed by J.J. Abrams, written by Abrams and Laurence Kasdan (who wrote episodes V and VI), “The Force Awakens” picks up 30 years after the events of “Return of the Jedi”. Explained in the opening crawl (via the satisfyingly traditional yellow scrolling text), Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) has gone missing, and remnants of the Empire have begun to terrorize the galaxy. Joined by old faces and new friends, two unlikely heroes must accept their destiny and save the galaxy.

Speaking of old faces, a majority of the original cast returns, reprising the elderly versions of the roles played in their youth. Harrison Ford’s Han Solo and Peter Mayhew’s Chewbacca, in particular, steal the show. But that isn’t to say the new characters are lacking in talent. Picking from a pool of generally unknown actors, the choices were well selected as Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaacs and Adam Driver deliver  fresh new energy into the decades-old franchise.

If only that discovery of the new and unseen had been brought to the rest of the movie. While it was great that J.J. Abrams was able to recapture the feel of the original trilogy, overall “The Force Awakens” felt too safe. Yes, it was a much needed push in the right direction after the sometimes questionable execution of the prequel trilogy, but this new movie seemed too familiar to be anything ground breaking in the “Star Wars” universe. It was exactly what it needed to be, which is both the best and worst thing about it.