A big thank you to Disney Studios for inviting us to an early screening of this movie and for the images here. I was not compensated otherwise for this post, and all opinions are mine.

QUICKIE REVIEW:
Kleenex Rating: I soaked through 4 napkins (forgot my handkerchief) and all of my eye makeup was gone at the end.
Bathroom Trip? Nope. There wasn’t a single break that gives you enough time to go to the restroom (and wash your hands).
Is this ok for kids? Depends on your kiddo, to be perfectly honest. I know some 5 year olds that are cool with Star Wars and one 10 year old in particular who is really not ok. There’s just a tiny bit of blood (as is usual with Star Wars movies those lasers must cauterize wounds) but there is some graphic violence, which is not usual, except that one scene with Anakin in Episode III.
I am not a big fan of many things. I enjoy things, but I very rarely get overly excited about many things, and I even more rarely purchase memorabilia or get excited about releases of movies.
But Star Wars, I am a big fan.
HOWEVER, when we got an invite for this final movie in the trilogy of Skywalker trilogies, I was a little hesitant. It’s the end. The end of all of these movies that started before I was born.
Ok. Enough about how much I love Star Wars, and how sad I am about the end. Let’s get to the review part. I don’t really know how to review a movie like this without spoilers, so I’m going to do my very best:

Short take: it’s so much better than Episode 8.
Long take: I don’t even know where to start. And speaking of starting, don’t even THINK of being a second late for this movie, you might as well just not go at all.
The traditional opening crawl ends, and you better brace yourself. The action starts there and doesn’t really let you go for the entire movie. There’s spaceships blowing up and horses on spaceships (that’s from the trailer, so NOT A SPOILER) and shooting and falling and it’s pretty intense.
(As I mentioned at the top of the post, I don’t really think this movie is for kids. However, if your kids could handle the scene with Anakin in Ep III before he becomes Vader, then I think they could take this movie.)
This movie deftly wraps up the trilogy of trilogies without making it a checklist, like some movies do. You know those movies, where the last ten minutes is spent tying up plotlines one after the other, like they’re checking off items on their to-do list. Not a great way to handle a movie.
But the way this movie handles the fact that there are no more Skywalker films coming next, it’s almost an art. We (my bloggy friends, my podcasting partner and I) didn’t realize how much closure we had gotten until the very end, where we all sat through the credits and just…enjoyed the end.

There’s new characters you love from the jump, and the loss of characters that might hit you differently than they hit me (I sobbed the entire last half of the movie, and I’m tearing up a little now). There are moments where you realize the technology is still consistent with the original trilogy, instead of trying to be “modern”, and a few hat tips to the old school Star Wars fans. There’s even a moment where we all cheered to see an old face in a new way.
All in all, this is my second favorite episode (behind Return of the Jedi) and