Matt.F said:
Reality check - The Last Jedi is a children’s film about wizards with laser swords, space battles and fantastical adventures.

Several problems with your “reality check”: (1) You missed the part of reality in which this is a forum dedicated to Star Wars – in which context (over)analysis is the order of the day.

(2) The “it’s just a kids’ fantasy” argument presupposes that we should accept lower storytelling standards for kids’ stories. Which makes zero sense.

(3) Why should Star Wars be viewed as necessarily /or/ only for kids, or considered only from a kid’s point of view? This presupposes that science-fantasy is only a child’s genre, and/or that Star Wars as a franchise can’t or shouldn’t mature in its storytelling. Yet for some reason the TLJ apologists have no problem with its obvious adult themes. The themes themselves are entirely valid; its the execution that was sorely lacking, and in fact unjustifiable.