Loved the book... movie not so much

Rating: 5/10 (30 June 2010)

I devour Twilight books and had to go to the midnight feature opening night of Eclipse. I was so disappointed by this movie. I wanted to love it, but can't even say that I liked it. It just didn't work for me.
The magic of Twilight was missing, as was the suspense and angst of New Moon. Gone were the lingering glances between Bella and Edward. The music that was practically a character in previous movies was absent. Eclipse relied far too much on dialog to tell the story, which with these books, is just not strong enough to completely carry a movie. It's the love story itself that draws us in, not Meyer's actual writing.
The movie itself was bright and clear, which I didn't like; my husband, however, did enjoy this movie better than the others in the saga, with the caveat, "if it didn't have all that talking." This is not saying very much; he didn't really like the other movies. He always commented everything was blue in Twilight or in a fog in New Moon. Eclipse was extremely action heavy, which could be why he enjoyed this movie more than the others.
To me, without the hazy dream-like setting, it was obviously fake. The wolves were cartoony looking and my vampires, oh, my beautiful vampires... their haircuts were horrid. I couldn't fall into this story, as I have in the past. Whatever the vision was that they were trying to create, it was a failure. The powdered skin was obvious and distracting. I wasn't left with a magical feeling.
Eclipse was not without high points, however... Jackson Rathbone (Jasper) was a completely different actor...thank you, thank you, thank you! He was smooth and believable in Eclipse, much improvement over his painful-to-watch performances in the previous movies. Jackson's performance was the highlight of this movie. Ashley Green's(Alice) performance was also spot on. She was light and airy, just as I expect of Alice. Jodelle Ferland, who played the fledgling Bree, was amazing in the few minutes that she was on screen. If I purchase this movie, it will be to re-watch these performances again.
The movie has humor and works the comedic timing. That part was well done for me, but remember that I do love the books. As a whole, I felt like I sat through a high school production. If you are in love with the saga, you are going to see this movie no matter what anyone else says. If you aren't a huge Twilight fan, don't waste your time or money.
I so hope they take their time to create a solid movie and go in a different completely different direction with Breaking Dawn. I would be greatly disappointed if that movie turns out like this one.