(Photo: Disney) Story Highlights Critic's rating: 4.5 stars out of 5 
 
 Abrams offers plenty of nods to the original films, but doesn't overdo it 
 
 Daisy Ridley, John Boyega and Oscar Isaac are good additions to the story 
 
 The plot of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” is basically a two-hour-and-change spoiler, but don’t worry, you won’t get any information here that will ruin your experience. A handful of new characters get dropped into the mix of good vs. evil: Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac), a hotshot rebel pilot; Finn (John Boyega), a guy who is — shall we say — considering a career change; and Rey (Daisy Ridley), a scavenger waiting for something, or someone. Homage to the past 
 
 “The Force Awakens” picks up the story where it left off in 1983’s “Return of the Jedi.” (Yes, there have been three “Star Wars” movies since, but they were prequels that only took the story up to where the original movie began in 1977.) Luke was driven by an increasingly complex Freudian animus against Darth Vader; Han Solo referred to the Millennium Falcon as “she”; male audiences were encouraged both to identify with Luke and to lech over Princess Leia in her outrageous gold slave bikini – and then, with exquisite narrative sadism, we were told they were brother and sister. The minute the lights go down, John Williams’s brassy anthem starts up and the opening crawl begins, explaining that Skywalker has been missing for the past 30 years, during which time an evil empire known as the First Order has taken power. One of the most gratifying things about “The Force Awakens” is the fact that Ford and Carrie Fisher, as Leia, play much larger roles in the story than mere perfunctory cameos. (Film Frame/Lucasfilm) 
 
 It’s telling, and surpassingly cool, that the last time Isaac and Driver worked together was on a Coen brothers film, the New York folk-scene drama “Inside Llewyn Davis.” That says a lot about the taste of Abrams, who has a wonderful eye for faces and for evoking the worlds of bygone “Star Wars” films while introducing new ones. [‘The best final shot’: Spoiler-free ‘Star Wars’ reactions] 
 
 As for Ford and Fisher’s robotic co-stars, the bad news is that they have some competition as far as adorable droids are concerned: BB-8, a roly-poly little Wall-E of a creature, rolls, beeps and blinks with such puppy-ish charisma that R2-D2 and C-3PO might want to call their agents to make sure they’re in the next installment. The Force Awakens leans heavily into the humor -- the first third of the film is basically slapstick and we’re pretty sure one of those Stormtrooper gags is straight out of a Family Guy episode-- but most of it works. Oscar Isaac, in particular, is endlessly delightful as Poe Dameron, quipping in the face of the villainous Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), “Are you talking first? Hell, even the villain of The Force Awakens has done his homework: Dressed head to toe in black, with a mask to go with his James Earl Jonesian baritone, he’s got serious Sith envy. JJ Abrams has an instinctive sympathy for the classic Star Wars landscapes and lays them out with élan: the switch from galaxies to shadowy forests and of course vast rippling deserts.
– The review embargo on Star Wars: The Force Awakens ended early Wednesday, leaving critics free to tell the world just how much they loved it. The majority had nothing but praise for director JJ Abrams' reboot of the beloved franchise, and even those who thought it was hit-and-miss say it's easily the best Star Wars movie since 1983's Return of the Jedi. A spoiler-free roundup: "There are very few films which leave me facially exhausted after grinning for 135 minutes, but this is one," writes Peter Bradshaw at the Guardian, praising Abrams and co-writer Lawrence Kasdan for creating a movie that is both "a narrative progression from the earlier three films and a shrewdly affectionate next-gen reboot." The Force Awakens "is ridiculous and melodramatic and sentimental of course, but exciting and brimming with energy and its own kind of generosity," he writes. Abrams has "united the original cast with a group of newcomers who mesh seamlessly with their elders, in an ensemble effort that brims with the chops and brio of a great jam session," writes Ann Hornaday at the Washington Post, praising new cast members like Daisy Ridley who "shoulder their responsibilities with skill and confidence." Star Wars fans are certain to love the movie, writes AA Dowd at the AV Club, though he feels Force Awakens may contain a little too much nostalgic "fan service." "What Abrams has done is strip Star Wars down to its core components, rearranging the stuff people liked about the original trilogy and getting rid of what they hated about the rest," he writes. This is the best Star Wars sequel yet and one of the best movies of 2015, according to Mick LaSalle at the San Francisco Chronicle, who's relieved that Disney, which bought Lucasfilm in 2012, hasn't turned out to be the Evil Empire. "It's hard to imagine any Star Wars movie better than the one they've made," he writes. Abrams "blends the old with the new, along with a fanboy's love and a director's skill, and the results are thrilling," writes Bill Goodykoontz at the Arizona Republic, who says even "casual" Star Wars fans—if they exist—will find a lot to love. "What Abrams has done is find and return the ingredient crucial to the original three films in the franchise that was sorely lacking in the second round: fun," he writes. Click for 8 things you'll hear upon leaving the theater after seeing the flick.