The minute I read the first sentence of the opening crawl – “Luke Skywalker has vanished” – I knew I was watching Star Wars again. Indeed, Episode VII: The Force Awakens, delivered the goods that fans of the original trilogy craved out of the extremely underwhelming prequel movies. Director J.J. Abrams mixed a potent cocktail of original storytelling, proven plot elements, dynamic new characters and familiar actors (Harrison Ford giving his best performance in 25 years). Over the film's 135-minute runtime, I felt the same childhood sense of awe and excitement that I experienced as a seven year-old watching the original films for the first time.