It was great fun to see all the people dressed up for the movie. There were elaborate costumes for Kylo Ren, storm troopers, Rey, X-wing pilots, and others. It almost made us wish we had a bantha or Jabba the Hutt costume.
We won't spoil anything for you. If you've watched the trailers then you probably know almost everything to expect (though there are a few very good surprises). Kelley liked it better than Force Awakens, and I thought they were about equal (maybe a re-watch of both is in order).
---(Very tiny spoilers follow, for those avoiding any info at all.)---
They did a very good job of tying things in with the first movie, though a few of the callbacks (like the camera zooming in on a pitcher of blue milk) seemed a bit over-emphasized. The returning characters are very faithfully recreated--we had to look up the cast afterward to see which ones were the same actors and which were new. (Embarrassingly, the main one I was wrong about was Darth Vader. Apparently James Earl Jones came back to voice his iconic character, but the intervening four decades have left his voice sounding different, at least to me. I guess it's the same as Elvis losing Elvis-impersonation contests.)
UPDATE: It turns out there was some cutting-edge digital makeup applied to help several of the younger actors embody the familiar characters. More info here (with movie spoilers, so go see it first).
The characters are great, and the new robot is an instant favorite. I particularly liked that they gave each of the people in the ensemble cast a chance to help save the day.
I'm surprised you both liked this one as much or more than the Force Awakens. That one beats this one hands down for me. It felt more exciting throughput, and I was more invested in the characters.
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