I'd argue it's the beginning of the Rey stoyline. She seeks out Luke like he seeked out Obi-Wan. Han and Leia were pretty much unessential to the storyline. The story could have proceeded if they were dead and just referenced. This is an obvious restart with the trio of Rey, Finn and the fighter pilot guy as the new heroes replacing Luke, Han and Leia.

None of which makes the film a "reboot". Again, your definition of that word and term is confused.

I think you guys need to first agree on the definition of a re-boot. To me something like Batman Begins is a true reboot. A film that proceeds with a mindset that all the previous Batman films didn't exist.

The Force Awakens was exactly the opposite. A film that proceeds with absolute awareness of a whole series of previously produced films.

That picks up 30 years later starring new leads and villains, that also has nothing to do with the last 17 years of Star Wars. That is a semi-reboot as the title suggests and as the OP clarified. A total reboot is different and what Maz is hung up on.

Regardless of how long after its taking place it's a sequel to events in previous films and features characters from said films. Not a reboot at all in my opinion. Semi or otherwise. New characters don't equate to a reboot.

There really isn't such a thing as a "semi-reboot". Either something is rebooted or it's not. Just like you can't dig half a hole. Either you have a hole or you don't.

Vacation (2015)

There is with science fiction.

Star Trek 2009, Teriminator Genisys, and X-Men DOFP were all soft reboots of their franchises. All three used time travel to reset the continuity.

Whereas things like Zombieween, Casino Royale, and the new Robocop were complete reimaginings.

Yes, but per the definition we're using abovethey're not reboots because they're simply continuations of what came before. Star Trek 2009 is just a parallel universe. The Prime trek adventures still happened. Just like most stories in the DC universe happened, they're really just parallel universe set in the same continuity. The post Crisis Super is now showing up in the New 52 universe, so they are all really in the same continuity. So if we're defing it as ignoring everything that came before it AND it being a complete reimagining, than it wouldn't fit as a reboot.

The 2009 movie was a prequel, a sequel, and a reboot. It was bizarre. Glad as I was to see Leonard Nimoy, I kind of watched him narrate 5 minutes of exposition and thought "Why not just reboot the franchise? Wouldn't that be easier?