Christmas gift for the "remake" critics
I like the throwback remixed nostalgia in both this and TFA, but if you don't, here is my ongoing analysis of ESB and TLJ comparisons:
Small character-centric story without a lot of impact to the overall saga.
Starts with Destroyers in orbit attacking a Resistance/Rebel base while the Resistance/Rebels try to escape in transports.
Resistance/Rebels on the run, followed closely for the entire movie by First Order/Empire.
Heroes need to find a place to hide out and get help... Just like ESB.
NEW ADDITION 12/20: PROBLEM WITH USING HYPERDRIVE TO ESCAPE IS CENTRAL TO THE PLOT! Damn!
Escaping the First Order using a cavern, just like in the asteroid field, but this time it worked.
Elsewhere far away on a green planet, a Jedi trainee meets with his/her Master and trains, until he/she leaves to go help the battle.
The Master is in self-exile on this green planet, by the way, and has been there for a long time.
The self-exiled Master is also not what was expected, at least not at first.
The Master speaks with the ghost of another past Jedi Master after the apprentice leaves.
The Apprentice goes into a "dark-side hole" to have a personal Force-driven experience.
Hoth 2.0 at the end. Even has a trench for soldiers, large guns mounted behind them, and huge heavy blast doors that lower down. White salt instead of snow, walkers, Rebel speeders that can't get far off the ground. Battle is mostly holding off the walkers until they can all escape.
NEW ADDITION 12/20: LUKE CONFRONTS THE WALKERS ALONE, ON FOOT.
A couple who is separated from the rest of their allies begin to grow closer, so Rose/Finn mirror what Leia/Han went through in ESB.
Rose and Finn visit a nice casino full of gamblers. Han and Leia visit a nice Cloud City which is run by a gambler with swagger.
NEW addition 1/9: While in the casino or cloud city, a droid is messed around with by one or more short creatures.
Canto Bight has a private police force flying around, just like Cloud City.
The help they find on Cloud City / Canto Bight does a double-cross eventually.
NEW addition 1/10: The two who go to Cloud City / Canto Bight are imprisoned together while there.
NEW addition 1/9: The burgeoning couple who was separated on their adventure (Finn/Rose, Han/Leia) also have an unexpected kiss during a tense and dangerous moment near the end. Also, the one who initiated the kiss ends up being unconscious, for one reason or another, at the end of the movie.
Super Star Destroyer introduced in ESB, Snoke's Star Destroyer introduced here.
Snoke's hologram is just a big head now, like the Emperor's hologram in ESB.
NEW ADDITION 12/20: IMPERIAL/FIRST ORDER OFFICER ABUSED/CHOKED BY THE FORCE OVER TELECOMMUNICATION WITH HIS SUPERIOR AS PUNISHMENT FOR FAILURE.
Ends with "well it's time to regroup with the rest and try another fight on another day."
C-3P0 reciting the odds of survival.
Of course, the new main character hears bad news about his/her parent(s).
I'm trying to be comprehensive, so if you see anything I missed, please add! HAL 9010 already added the double-cross, which was a comparison I didn't think about.