The Force Awakens

 

Han Solo movie poster

 

Like everyone else in the universe, we're counting the days till the new Star Wars movie officially opens on Friday. To hold us over, we recently made a quick trip to Disneyland, where Tomorrowland has been transformed into the "Season of the Force," complete with a Launch Bay exhibit promoting the new movie and elite collectibles (a $4000 Darth Vader costume and $12,000 life-sized Storm trooper statue—yikes!). We rode "Star Tours," which has been updated to include Force Awakens characters (excellent!), but opted not to wait 90 minutes on line for the temporarily revamped "Space Mountain" ride.

 

 Updated Storm trooper

Millennium Falcon model

 

Yoda!

 

Imperial starcruiser model

 

Bring me the head of Darth Vader . . . 

as a cotton candy container—only at

Disneyland!

 

****************
THE MOVIE:

After successfully avoiding all reviews—and after re-watching the original Star Wars movies the night before—we made our way to our local multiplex yesterday morning for the 8:30AM show. It was already the third screening of the day. The theater wasn't full, but several large groups of adults entered together—I speculated they were employees of Sony and Culver Studios, both within walking distance. As usual, the audience was mostly male.

Tim and I loved the movie. Director J.J. Abrams got it exactly right. Filled with familiar imagery, plot lines and themes, it is the perfect sequel to the original three Star Wars films. (Prequels? What prequels?) Plus it was wonderful seeing all our favorite characters and spaceships. (The Millennium Falcon got a huge round of applause.) I won't spoil the story, which is filled with surprises. Suffice it to say, fans will laugh and cry (like I did), but will be overjoyed to be back in the world they love.

GO SEE IT RIGHT NOW!