The good:
-This movie is pulpy as hell. It really feels like an adventure serial, but not necessarily in a throwback kind of way. It feels like a modern version of that. It's totally sincere and is self-aware on only the most minimal possible level. It does not have the tone problems that the prequels had.
-The fanservice is great. For my money it doesn't go too far. Some may find that it does, but it made me smile quite a few times.
-The old cast is wonderful. Mark Hamill is actually barely in it, he doesn't even have a single line, but Harrison Ford and especially Carrie Fisher were just perfect.
-The new cast is fine. The characters are likable enough, and the protagonist is a woman which is great for Star Wars.
-The new cast and the old cast mix very naturally. Neither one feels like it's taking a significant back seat to the other, although the movie definitely seems to be setting up sequels that focus much more on the new cast. Which is fair, it is their turn after all.
-Despite the fact that the whole movie is basically just setup for future movies I thought it was surprisingly satisfying in the way it wrapped up. There are tons of loose threads, but it leans more toward "This is intriguing, I wonder what will happen next" and less toward "This is an incomplete story".
-I have rarely given a shit about the Force, the Jedi, or the Sith in Star Wars. Stories can get terribly bogged down in the minutia of space wizardry and it makes me lose interest really quickly. That's why I find a lot of the expanded universe stuff to be unappealing. Despite the fact that there's a fair amount of Force shit in this movie it never becomes the focus. It feels like part of the plot, not the point of the plot.
The bad:
-The plot is basically entirely supported on a series of incredible coincidences, which makes it feel a lot less credible than I wish it did.
-They really missed an opportunity to shake up the dynamics of the different sides. Somehow the good guys are the underdog rebels again and the bad guys are the oppressive majority again. What the hell? The rebels won last time, why are they on the bottom again already?
-Some people will be bothered by how unbelievable the dialogue is. I'm not, I recognize that as being how Star Wars movies work, but that doesn't change the fact that a lot of it is ridiculous.
-It feels too long. A lot of different incidents happen and none of them are bad on their own, but there are just too many things. The movie is fairly long and you can feel the length, or at least I did.