"You can make non-hokey of the story in that film

Dial it down, remove the old actors almost completely,
work HARD on pacing the story"

Right. It was called Star Wars Episode IV. It's almost the exact same story minus with some moments reversed, usually for the worse.
For instance, Leia effectively saves our young Jedi from a sand planet that doesn't know he/she is a Jedi and good guy from the wrong side of the tracks instead of getting saved in the first movie.
Finn not shooting at all mirrors Han shooting first.
But it was stronger when Luke's parents were killed rather than Ray's just disappearing and presumed dead. (Which was another issue - the film had A LOT of tell don't show.)