Bingowings said:
As you know I was indifferent to the film but the creature design didn’t worry me. In the first film we had Luke attacked by rubber tentacles. Personally I find the dianoga far more problematic.
Why do you find the dianoga more problematic? The creature was hardly shown, as it was almost entirely underwater, which added to the mysteriousness of its threat. Luke got taken under in believable fashion, and the whole film stopped to concentrate on that dramatic moment. Dramatic pacing. The way Luke escaped was believable, the trash compactor started running, and the monster took off to escape. Finally, when Luke resurfaced, he was in obvious physical discomfort, having very nearly drowned. He was wet and he had dirt all over him. He was spitting water and grime out of his mouth. It was all very believable to me.
On the other hand, in TFA they went to great pains to show the entire rathtar on camera, which only invites more scrutiny to its physical appearance. The monsters weren’t there to put our heroes in danger … no, the rathtars were released to save our heroes dues-ex-machina style. The way Finn got away was not believable at all, it was just downright silly and eye-rolling. And when he got picked up, of course, he was being dragged around the ship at very high speeds. In the real world (and I would argue in the world of the OT), his body (and head) would have been slamming against the metal walls and floor and anything jutting out from them, causing serious bodily injury or death. But in the world of TFA, he was just fine. Not a blemish. Thanks Rey!