Star Wars: A New Hope premiered in millions of cinemas around the world. It was the start of a trilogy that changed the face of filmmaking forever and created a culture that propelled the interests of fanboys around the world. Now, nearly four decades later, Disney has attempted to continue the legacy of a small story about the Jedi, the Sith, a Chosen One, the Force and a galaxy far, far away.

Every Luke, Leia, Han Solo, Yoda, R2-D2, C-3P0, Chewbacca, Darth Vader, and Obi-Wan gathered together on 17 December to see those same bold black letters outlined in gold against the background of stars and hear the main theme song play on the big screen for the first time since 2005. When the lights went down and that music started to play, tears of nostalgia were brought to the audience’s eyes and the crowd erupted in cheers.

The film has made $250 million in its opening weekend–more than any film has ever made in such a short amount of time. The Force Awakens takes place nearly thirty years after the conclusion of Return of the Jedi. With the downfall of the Galactic Empire, a new threat called the First Order rises. A group of unlikely heroes join the Resistance–the remains of the Rebel Alliance–in order to bring peace and order to the galaxy once and for all.

The big news about this movie is that it deserved all of the prerelease hype it got–it was awesome! This film was no Attack of the Clones or The Phantom Menace, so have no fear because Disney did not manage to ruin it. Despite bringing in a good chunk of the original cast (Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, etc.), the members of the new cast including Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, and John Boyega allowed the movie to rise to a new level that came–dare I say it–something close to the originals.

One of the problems with the prequels was that there were too many similarities to the originals or, at other times, not nearly enough. The Force Awakens manages to find a balance that is close to perfect while seamlessly creating characters filled to the brim with compassion (or in some cases, the lack of), humor, humane strengths and weaknesses. However, as a reader of one of the book series which take place after the end of The Return of the Jedi, Disney sticks to one particular book series moderately consistently which made some of the plot in the movie slightly predictable. Furthermore, the plot mirrored a lot of the story that Lucas developed in the original trilogy. However, this is a minor fault compared to all of the aspects of Star Wars that Disney–thank goodness–got right. This includes everything from the soundtrack to the climax of the movie you will not see coming to the casting of every major character. The cinematography was absolutely beautiful and my favorite scene personally–the ending–was so beautifully shot. Filming on location really added to the feeling of being in that far away galaxy that so many people have been desiring to return to via the big screen once more. Not bad J.J. Abrams!

Overall, the movie was amazing, allowing the audience to return to the world of the Force, lightsabers, droids, space ships, Star Destroyers, TIE fighters, and fearsome creatures with a newly found sense of humanity and nostalgic familiarity. Thank you Disney for allowing me to return to that galaxy I love so much far, far away.