Should have been called Star Wars: Return of the Return of the Jedi
or
Star Wars: You're a Force Ghost! And You're a Force Ghost! EVERYONE's a Force Ghost!!
I'm split on the movie.
On one hand the movie was unapologetic about trying to nostalgia me into a fan stupor, and it did that extremely well. The Star Wars fan in me was giggling with glee throughout the movie. It's like watching the best made fan Youtube video that just kept going and going and getting better and better.
As a movie and a end to a cultural phenomenon I got what I expected but I didn't expect much. The Rey/Ben part was easily the best part of it all, I think they carried everything and really shone through. Overall the emotional impact of the movie was there despite it being a remake to the point of recycling the bad guy.
I liked aspects of TLJ and was disappointed that they abandoned those ideas, it'd be nice to grow and change and evolve the Star Wars universe and mythos, but I fully expected what happened. I guess I can go rewatch Clone Wars and Rebels to scratch that itch.
Some of it was clunky but to be expected when they basically had to do the lifting of 1.5 to 2 movies.
Imagine how much better it would have been if they'd built up to Palpatine throughout all of the second movie! Instead we get some text, hard to be emotionally invested in that.
There was also some pretty eye-rolling moments.
But overall I'm still glad I saw it, it was fun, emotional, made me feel young and happy, and that's worth a great deal.