Alright, there are 16 pages here and after the first 8-10, I stopped reading as the conversation seemed to have shifted to sexism and whether Rey could do what she did. I'm gonna kinda move back towards the heart of the original post and apologize if I'm re-hashing anything that had already been addressed after I stopped reading every single post.
I thought the move was alright; not great, but alright yet I couldn't help but be disappointed even though I wanted to like it. It didn't actually occur to me how similar it was to the original, though once I read the post and article, I could definitely see it. I've read some of the books and have at least a general awareness of the expanded universe as it pertains to the books, though not fully comprehensive. Still, with the knowledge that I do have, I was completely struck by how similar the movie was to story lines told in the various EU novels. This story has been told; Leia and Han had multiple children including Jaina and Jacen Solo. Both train to become Jedis and Jacen ultimately ends up becoming a mystery Sith Lord who ignites a civil war. Guess who has to take a central role in stopping Jacen. Jaina of course. Ben existed in the expanded universe as well, though he was Ben Skywalker and not Ben Solo. Lukes disappeared and had to be located although that in and of itself isn't really a major shocker of a similarity. Then of course there are questions that could and in some corners have been asked about the knights of Ren, Ren's appearance, and possible similarities to Old Republic lore but that's something separate still, too. Like I said, the movie was alright and I probably would have enjoyed it more if I wasn't making these connections but I couldn't bring myself to not be disappointed. Struck me personally as a little cheap to axe the expanded universe and then, to my eyes, cherry pick elements from that universe and jam them together in the movie. Not surprised that it happened but was still a little disappointed. The fact that so many similarities are being pointed out with the original doesn't help that feeling.
Beyond that, I don't know how pseudo or quasi official the expanded universe really was anyway. As I understand it, Lucas kept a pretty tight rein on all of that storytelling to try and ensure continuity in the universe. I didn't personally see a lot that was grossly contradictory throughout the expanded universe.
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