I held off reading this thread until I watched TLJ last night and agree with the sentiments here.
The visual effects and score ere great (although it sounded very similar to the original Jurassic Park) but the story and characters were pretty weak as nothing really made sense.
No explanation or real development on the characters that were presented here.
The personality of all main characters seems to be the typical teenager that just want to rebel and be different.
Some other random stuff that I thought about the movie
-Some of the cheap comedy shots felt out of place and characters although i liked the one in the beginning.
-The porg and racing animals are definitely just there for the cute factor.
-So Rey is supposedly the last Jedi now other than she doesn't really know much about it nor how to control it properly.
-Leia can revive and do force pull back to the ship because she's a Skywalker?
-Using costumes instead of CGI for the Caretakers brings back the classic SW look.
-I was almost happy to see Finn die only to be rescued by a girl that loves him but they only met few hours prior.
Loved the Luke vs First Order scene and how it ended but didn't really like how they portrayed Luke most of the movie.
-Last scene with the kids, the white kid reminds me of young anakin and I thought I see him use the force to grab the broom. Could he be involved on the next movie?