Wired
In the Wake of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, critics and audiences couldn’t help but notice how much its plot mirrored the original Star Wars from 40 years ago. A frustrated desert-dweller journeys away from their home planet for the first time? Check. Joins up with a band of smugglers and encounters a vast array of alien races? Check. Meets the Rebel Alliance, and helps take down a fearsomely powerful outpost after the sacrifice of a beloved hero? Check. The similarities can be overwhelming.
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And that's exactly why it made $2 billion.
I think it was done great. It has just enough change in it to relate to a younger newer crowd, while also enticing that of an older crowd that loves the originals.
It was the best thing to do without actually creating a lame reboot, telling the same story.
Also take note of people that cry about it being similar, and then see if they go to a reboot movie and cry that it wasn't "the same" as the original.... people love to just complain.