I'll probably always have a "love/dislike" relationship with TLJ but there's no way I'll spend the majority of my energy focusing on the parts I dislike especially since none of those elements are deal-breakers.
Same here. But I think this is true of most sci-fi/fantasy movies. It's easier to just accept everything in a sci-fi/fantasy story when you're a kid, and thoroughly enjoy every aspect of it. Age forms a tighter bond with reality and cynicism, though. So, you see more flaws and object to more dialogue, character motivation, and plot narratives. As an adult, these types of movies basically just need to give me more good than bad in order to be enjoyable overall.
I still love ROTJ. But as kid in 1983, I thought it was the greatest thing ever. I didn't love the Ewoks, but I didn't have all the reasons to object to them which I developed as I got older. The dialogue between Luke and Leia on the Endor bridge/walkway didn't make me cringe as a kid. And Anakin getting a happy Force ghost (because apparently killing the Emperor cancels out turning to the Dark Side and committing countless murders and atrocities) didn't bother me. Those things (and others) bother me now, but I still love ROTJ. I recognize that it's clearly behind ESB and ANH in terms of quality, but there's so much more good than bad that I don't separate it from the other two very much in terms of enjoyment.
TLJ has its flaws. No doubt. But, on balance, there was so much that I enjoyed about it to overwhelm the parts I hate about it. For those who think Luke was a wimply coward in TLJ, I can understand never being able to like the movie. I don't agree with that view of Luke at all, but I totally understand that sort of fan reaction. It's when the criticisms amount to nothing more than the same types of things that already existed in the OT, and especially in the PT, that the negative view of TLJ has no credibility with me.
If you're a fan of the OT, and you've seen Star Destroyers run into each other - and you've seen a second Death Star get built with a very similar vulnerability to the first one, how can you have a problem with tactical buffoonery of the First Order?
If you've seen Luke destroy a Death Star by using the Force, yet his only training to that point consisted of Kenobi merely
introducing him to the vague concept of "feel" rather than see, how can you object to using Force abilities without actual training?
If you're okay with Luke holding his own against Darth Freakin' Vader in the ESB lightsaber duel - despite never getting on-screen lightsaber training from Kenobi or Yoda; and never demonstrating any previous life experience with similar weapons - how can you have a problem with Rey (who was shown to have acquired formidable fighting skills with her staff in order to survive as a scavenger on Jaaku) using a lightsaber well?
And, if you're okay with the prequels, how can you possibly object to the ST ruining OT characters? . . . or having plot holes? . . . or bad dialogue? . . . or bad acting? . . . or cringe-inducing goofiness? . . . or anything at all!?
He gets a chance to invent *any character he wants* to join the roster below and he settled on "Rose Tico."
Like you said nothing against Kellie Marie Tran but what the hell RJ.
And Lucas chose to create Jar-Jar. It happens.