Twilight Movie Review

During the summer of 2008, one of my closest girl friends began raving about this book she'd begun to read and started to try and tell me what it was about. Because we are avid political journal, classic literature, etc. readers, I quickly found her new vampire obsession an easy target to mock. But, shortly after my taunting began, a co-worker of mine asked me if I had discovered Twilight. I must have looked at her with a sincere expression of concern (what is the world coming to when these full grown women are drooling over a teenage girl geared novel?) She laughed at me with a knowing twinkle in her eye, brought me the book the next day, and I am now sad to admit that I too, am a Twilight addict. (Go Team Edward!)

I spent any spare moment I could find divulged in this addictive book - on the train to and from work, on my lunch breaks, and during what used to be my weekly television shows. (Forgive me, Grey's Anatomy, but there is a new and more important entertainment factor in my life.) There was even one Friday night when my husband and I had planned a night-out; instead, we sat in bed. He read his book (it wasn't Twilight; so, who cares what it was!) and I buried myself knee deep in a Cullen family obsession. So what if my head did not hit the pillow until 5:00am; at least it was full of happy thoughts about vampires and werewolves. This pattern continued, and I finished all four of Stephenie Meyer's books in a week.

I was hooked; I continued to pull my poor girl friends in to the obsession and demanded that they read these books so I would not have to endure the wait of the Twilight movie on my own. Once they all finished the books, we continued to talk about the characters and their development throughout the series. That remained our focus - who we liked/disliked, why, etc.

So, the week of the movie release officially rolled around (it was marked on my work calendar with a giant, pink heart) and my ever-amazing husband went on his own to buy tickets to the midnight showing. (He may not understand my addiction, but at least he's there to hold my hand and help me through it.) We arrived at the theater around 10:30pm on November 20; mind you, this theater was showing Twilight at 12:01am (November 21) on six screens; to no surprise, each auditorium was nearly full, but we (luckily) found two seats near the top and made ourselves comfortable for the hour and a half wait we had in front of us.

Not going to lie; this was way beyond my bed time, and I tried my best to take a nap on my husband's shoulder, but I got too distracted by all of the pre-teen and teenage girls bubbling on around me. I began to feel inappropriately dressed in my Old Navy sweatshirt and jeans; I suppose I missed the memo about wearing a shirt with Edward's (Robert Pattinson) face blown up on the front of it. But, all teeny bopper jokes aside (because, well, I can't dwell on that since I, too, was at the midnight showing), it was very endearing to see all of these young girls sharing such a great experience with their moms and dads. (Props to those moms and dads for doing something so special with their children; way to foster that Edward obsession!)

After a brief lesson on the legality of piracy from the theater manager and a visit from two policemen just to enforce the rule, the movie finally began. And so then, did my disappointment quickly hit.

I can not say exactly what it was that I was expecting, but within the first thirty minutes of the movie, I was bored. (Gasp!) The shots seemed cheap, the action parts were horribly done, and it was clearly apparent that the Cullen family had on contacts to depict the black or gold hues described in the book. And, the acting was not any more than I'd expect from a small, local playhouse. I am well aware that this story takes place in a high school, but the high school aspects of it were clearly jokes that only the 12-year olds in the theater found entertaining. Yes, I know the book was originally geared towards teenagers, but the fan base is so much more than that now; I would have thought they would take that in to consideration when writing the script.

For me, the reason I adore Twilight (and the rest of the series) was because of the character development. I did not fall in love with Edward as it seems many women did, but he became a modern day Romeo to me; Bella (Kristen Stewart) became my new image of Cinderella, and I hoped for everyone that their family could be half as wonderful as the Cullen family. But, in the movie, you would never know the strong bond that the family cherishes, because point blank, it was not there. True, Jasper (Jackson Rathbone) faces a difficult time being around Bella in the book, but in the movie, he just walked around with an expression that made him look like he should go to the doctor to have that issue checked out.

And, Alice (Ashley Greene) was my biggest disappointment. My favorite aspect of Twilight (the book) was the relationship that she develops with Bella. I loved Alice's little quirks that made her seem so endearing and real, but in the movie, she spoke for maybe five minutes. There was no relationship developed between the two girls, other than a mere mention from Alice that they would be really close. Even at the end of the movie when Alice was supposed to be spending so much time helping Bella prepare for the prom, Alice was no where to be seen. She loaned a dress to Bella, and that was the extent of her involvement.

The whole reason that I love these books is because of the characters; you begin to feel like you know them and you want nothing but the best to happen for each of them. But in the movie, the character development is severely lacking.

The fact that Bella is clumsy was mentioned, but not spot-lighted as it is in the book; that was such a key aspect of developing her character, and it was basically non-existent. And, the lullaby that Edward wrote for Bella is not focused on at all; which, in my opinion, should have been a key scene. It was such a simple and heartfelt gesture that helped to portray his feelings toward her in the book. In the movie, it shows him playing the piano while she is sitting there listening; there is no mention that the song he is playing is something he wrote for her. My husband, who has not read the books, was lost entirely as to what was going on and would have had no clue that the piano playing shot was really about a song Edward had written to calm Bella if I had not told him. He was also confused about the whole eye-changing-color aspect; they never described that when Edward was thirsty, his eyes would be black and when he was not thirsty, they would be a brilliant gold/brown hue. The eye-changing-color thing was mentioned, but never explained; so, for someone like my husband, he had no clue what the reference actually meant. That is such a key part to understanding Edward's difficulty of being arround Bella and the devotion he shows to her by not harming her that was left out of the movie.

When we left, I'm sure my husband could tell I was disappointed. He asked me if I actually liked those books based on what he had seen in the movie. (This coming from someone who used to mock Harry Potter until he met me; now, he's read every book and seen every movie more than a handful of times.) I felt no attachment to the characters in the movie; the relationship development, for me, was not there at all. The entire thing just felt rushed; I understand they only had a certain amount of time to fit everything in, but there is no excuse for the lack of character development and descriptions. I have seen movies that are around the same length where you feel like you know a character at the end; the producers and writers of Twilight failed, miserably, at that.

Twilight has been called an epic romance for this time; the book - yes. The movie - no way. And, the next Harry Potter comparison? Unless the New Moon movie (the next book in the series) is a 110% improvement of the movie I saw last night, I do not think so - at all.

I am sure the squealing teenage girls (yes, they would squeal every time Edward came on to the screen) enjoyed this movie just because they liked to look at the attractive Robert Pattinson. But, from my adult perspective, the fact that they had an attractive guy play the character, along with a complete perfect looking-cast ensemble, was not nearly enough to improve my opinion. Those teenagers will continue to make it a success at the box office so they can drool over their new heartthrob; but as for me, I hope that the box set I put on my Christmas list makes it under my tree. At least then, I'll be able to actually enjoy Twilight for what it should be - a charming, engaging, and heartwarming love story. Not, the cheap, corny, and less-than-impressive version that made it on to the big screen.