I saw it twice, in 2D and 3. Loved it in 3D, definitely worth the extra $2 or whatever. I haven't seen the first execrable episodes since they came out in theaters 15-8 years ago, And I'm still trying to forget them. I'm glad Disney didn't include Lucas in this recent movie; I think his genius started to fade quickly in the 80's.
I think The Force Awakens was a great reboot. I'm not sure why some folks get huffy that it was so similar to episode 4. How many remakes of Batman are there, and some of those reboot in just a decade. It's been nearly forty years since A New Hope. And as one of my favorite authors likes to say, "History may not repeat itself, but it certainly rhymes." Each generation makes some of the same mistakes as that of their fathers.
My impression was that they filmed as many homage scenes and lines as they could think of and then edited a bunch out to keep the pace of the movie from getting clumsy. I felt they did a good job. I'd give it at least 4/5 stars and would say this movie is as good as A New Hope and better than Return of the Jedi. Empire is still my favorite; that likely won't change.