Crap for anyone who actually read the book.

Rating: 3/10 (21 November 2009)

Okay, I had some real issues with the first movie. For one thing they couldn't have found a worse actress to play Bella. She speaks every line the same, keeps the same facial expression throughout the entire film, and has a very masculine voice. They did decently well with Robert Pattinson but he is nowhere near the most gorgeous guy in the world. The previews for the second movie looked a lot better than the first movie. It looked like it would actually go based off the book, which it did, sort of. However, this movie was full of cheesy dialog and the for the most part the characters didn't even attempt to deliver it with any real emotion. My first real annoyance with the movie is the way everything felt rushed. it was like from one minute to the next something that took two chapters to build up to just happened and was over with in ten seconds. Hey, i'm happy with Edward. thirty seconds later, Edward leaves me. Ten seconds after that Jake and I are best friends. forty seconds later, uh oh my best friend is a werewolf. and then it continued on like that for the entire movie. Anyone who is even mildly entertained by the series would not have minded tacking on another thirty minutes to the movie to keep an actual flow going.
My second annoyance came with Kristen Stewart's once again horrible acting. She was a little more animated than in the first movie but only marginally show. When Edward is breaking up with her she just blinks a lot and stares at the ground and does weird things with her breathing, which I guess was supposed to be her in excruciating emotional pain. I think the most annoying thing about her is her voice, however. It's sort of deep and she always sounds like she's being very, very serious, even when she's supposed to be delivering a line I assumed was meant to be funny. If they replaced her I'm almost positive the movies themselves would improve. they wouldn't be cinematic masterpieces or anything like that but they'd be better with a person who actually showed emotion.
My third annoyance would have to be where they threw things from the book into the movie. For example: when she's racing up to Edward in under the clock tower. In the book they go through this dialog of him believing he's in heaven and Carlisle was right about his soul. Bella must then convince him he is alive. They do NOT have this in depth I'm sorry I left you but I did it because I love you conversation until after they get from Italy, not in under the clock tower like the movie shows it. Another example is at the very beginning of the movie Jacob just suddenly shows up at Bella's school. WTF? That never happened. Jacob does appear in the books until after Edward leaves. They also shove Jasper into the school scene, which he's not supposed to be. Also, what book did the production crew read that said anything about a fight taking place between the volturri and Edward? It didn't happen. There was no fight scene then, like the movie showed. I could go on and on with examples like this. i understand they had time constraints but my biggest issue with books into movies is that they screw up the timelines so bad. This another perfect example.
Lastly, I have to say some of the things I enjoyed about the movie. for one thing when I read the series I find Edward and Bella's relationship funnier. It isn't quite so life and death as the first movie showed it. I laugh at lots of the things they say to each other. The second movie definitely depicted their relationship in a funnier way. The beginning of the movie was actually pretty funny. Also, many of the characters made the movie worth watching. Sadly, it wasn't any of the main characters in the film. It was the ones that were barely there. For example, I loved Billy Burke as Charlie Swan. His character made the movie good, at least when he was in the scenes. Also, the girl who plays Jessica Stanley did awesome. She was funny and during the pretty one scene that she's in the movie (the night in port angeles) I laughed. By far my favorite character was Mike Newton though. He wasn't in much of the movie but in the scene at the theater with Jacob and Bella he was awesome. He was funny and portrayed his character very well. Jasper's character is scarcely in the movie, maybe like three or four scenes. The ones that he is in he plays his character well and he delivers lines that are well done and most of them fairly humorous.
All in all, the movie was pretty a major disappointment. The acting by the major characters was horrible but all the minor characters that did well in the film made the movie worthwhile. There were more of the minor characters than I mentioned but those were my favorites. The action scenes, despite the fact that they never happened in the movie, were well done. The transformation from human to werewolf was well done, even though you could totally tell it was special effects. The movie is worth seeing and it will entertain you but not in the way you think it will. If you're going to the movie because you love the series, be prepared to be disappointed. If you're going just because, I'm sure there is some redeeming quality you will see in the film to not make you regret spending your money on it.