the good far outweighed the bad in this film. what some of you guys call "fan service" was actually pretty intragal parts of the story. my favorite parts that aren't getting enough mention imo:

- i thought it was brilliant that the explanation for the weakness of the Death Star was that Galen Erso put it there on purpose as basically a backdoor booby trap in retaliation for forcing him to work for them (and killing his wife and separating him from his daughter). i feel like this isn't getting enough love because that's awesome. it cleared up what some people felt was a issue in the first Star Wars that such a huge weapon would be so vulnerable.

- the hammerhead ships that they used to ram the one star destroyer into the other one were stolen by Princess Leia in a Star Wars Rebels episode. also from Rebels is Chopper who makes a quick cameo at the rebel base and the Ghost is in the battle over Scarif and they mentioned Hera's name over the intercom and she's apparently been upgraded to a general. very cool

the CGI Tarkin and Leia didn't bother me at all. both very important characters and fairly essential to the story. not sure how else they could have had them in the film otherwise.