I was invited to a press screening of Star Wars: The Force Awakens yesterday. I saw the movie for free, early but received no other compensation. This is my honest, Spoiler Free review.

When I was a kid in 1977 the original Star Wars came out, I was 3 years old. My parents thought I would be too scared of the movie so they didn’t take me to see it. Growing up I wish I had seen it, but now that I’m older I’m kind of glad that I didn’t. I discovered an appreciation for Star Wars later in life. I had friends and my cousin had plenty of the toys so I got to play Star Wars from time to time. But it just wasn’t my thing. I enjoyed it when I eventually saw it and I’ve seen all the movies now. This past year I even bought all of them on digital. I’ve even seen the famed Christmas special and the Endor movies.

It really wasn’t until the past few years that I’ve gotten into Star Wars much more. Rewatching the movies with my kids has awakened an appreciation and love for these movies in a way that I couldn’t appreciate as a child. Watching shows like Star Wars Rebels and then Star Wars: The Clone Wars and playing Disney infinity 3.0 has really made my enjoyment of Star Wars complete. Talking about Star Wars with my daughter seeing her reading the books and seeing her just love watching the movies has made me see Star Wars in a whole new way. A way that I never saw as a child but I appreciate it now as an adult.

I was invited to see a press screening of Star Wars: The Force Awakens on Tuesday at 11 a.m. in Boston. I was sworn to secrecy as to where I was seeing the movie, when I was seeing the movie and that I saw the movie at all until now. Now that the embargo has been lifted I can tell you what I thought of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. This will be a spoiler free review because I want you to be able to experience this movie with the wonder and excitement of a child’s eyes that you just don’t get to experience anymore. I can assure you of one thing, these are no prequels. This is the movie that was worth camping out to see.

After some scheduling conflicts and driving in to Boston and getting stuck in the traffic and screaming at the top of my lungs over and over and over again I finally got to the theater. We weren’t allowed to take in our phones or anything like that, so I left them in the car and I ran to the theater because I was running late. I made it. I hustled up to the back row and sat down to catch my breath and watch the movie. The nice thing about being almost late is that I didn’t have to wait long for the movie to start. I was pumped and at the edge of my seat as the words crawled up from the bottom of the screen.

One thing that struck me about the movie right off the bat was that it was so real looking. I suppose when the prequels came out that they kind of looked real but they were still so heavily CGI. You don’t get that over CGI feeling to this movie at all. Sure there is plenty of visual effects but there are also a ton of practical effects in play. You get a really clean, well shot, well paced movie. It didn’t feel like the rushed back and forth jumping around like you saw in the prequels. There was good storytelling, excellent characters and it was fun.

Sure, there is a nostalgia factor to this movie especially when you have some of the original cast reprising roles. These are people you’re familiar with. These are people that you know, that you love. It is familiar and comforting to see them. So when a joke is made you say to yourself, “I get that reference” or you may even have been thinking the same thing yourself. And at the same token when characters are in peril, or there is a moment of emotion you feel it all the more strongly. There were moments when I cried from joy and I cried from sadness. There are moments when you want to yell at the screen there are moments when you want to cheer at the screen.

Now this isn’t to say that it was all about the existing characters. There are some new characters who are very important in the movie. These are characters that I think this generation of kids, especially my own children are going to grow up and know and love as well. The names Rey, Finn and Poe will become first name basis friends to the children of today. Rey is a scavenger living in the planet of Jakku. Finn is a stormtrooper who has a change of heart. Poe is the best pilot in the whole Resistance. Through an unlikely series of events they come to meet each other, help each other and become friends. Along the way they are joined by characters that we know and love like Han Solo, Chewbacca and Princess Leia who is now a General (Not a spoiler, this has been mentioned in articles online for some time). Where is Luke you ask? That is the question that everyone is asking.

Fighting to destroy The Resistance is The First Order. In The First Order is Kylo Ren who is hell bent on being like his hero, Darth Vader. You can see in the trailers how Kylo Ren carries himself like Vader. He even wears a mask. And Kylo Ren is every bit as evil as Darth Vader. He is also an emotional wreck and has a very destructive outburst in one scene. Made me think about how I was feeling each time traffic ground to a halt on the way to see the movie.

At the heart of the movie is a story about people who are lost or abandoned, but each is trying to find their place in the world. Some run away from their destiny, some try to change their destiny and some have destiny thrust upon them.

The special effects in the movie are great. They did a lot of practical effects and that adds to the realness of the movie. There are excellent lightsaber fights and incredible starship fights as well. there was even a fight between lightsaber and some other weapon which was extremely bad ass. Plus, we get to see the Millennium Falcon in action as we have never seen her before. We also get some fun surprises in terms of characters but also actors as well. Nothing too crazy or over the top on the actor front, but something that makes you go, hey!

For me, Star Wars: The Force Awakens got everything right. It had great balance between old and new. It had emotion and humor that was relatable without being cheesy and playing to the lowest common denominator, yeah, I’m looking at you, Jar Jar. Thank goodness there is no character like him in this movie. Everyone pulls their weight and the acting is excellent. I can’t say enough good about the movie and can’t wait to see it again on Thursday night. And probably again the week after and if Allison thinks that Eva will be able to handle it, then one more time with her.