It is a parallel and I think they did the right thing with how they went about it, it's a fantastic movie that I enjoyed the hell out of. I have high hopes for the next one and I think it will kick off where this one ended in a big way.

However, my issue is less with the plot than it is with how much they relied on nostalgia from the originals which made some scenes feel underwhelming because all I could think is "I've seen this before". That's not to say every nostalgia moment was like this, there were plenty of fresh new takes on old moments that I loved.

This is gonna be longer than I planned but I guess I'll list some examples.

First the good followed by the bad.

Rey using her new found force powers to influence the guard to free her from the cell. This was a great way to re-use an old trick, absolutely adored this scene.

Bad:

Rey randomly running around inside the enemy base after her escape. We saw Obi Wan do it in ANH and it made a lot more sense there, he had an objective and we saw it to completion. In TFA she is simply avoiding being caught with no clear goal in mind other than that. Everything she does during this time is inconsequential because we know she isn't going to be caught (which she should have been, will these guys ever install security cameras). The end result is she randomly runs into Finn and Han.

And another bad just for good measure.

New Cantina scene, we as viewers and our characters are already well aware of weird alien shit long before they arrive there and are so used to it they don't react at all to the strangeness around them. It's boring to them and it's boring to us (well, at least me) In ANH it broadens Luke's view (our view) on the universe which it absolutely does not do in TFA, it's pure nostalgia fodder. I didn't dislike anything that happened there, or the immediate battle that followed (which was great), but the scenery was boring, obvious, and could have been done better.

That's all for now lol, sorry for the wall of text.