Definitely not disappointing!

Rating: 8/10 (23 November 2008)

Before I start explaining, I will just say that I am a die-hard fan of the Twilight series. Twilight is my favorite book in the series and I was extremely excited to see the movie ever since the first announcement came out. I went last night to see it four friends, one who is also a die-hard fan.
On to the movie: While the beginning of the movie was slow and even sometimes painful, there was a promise of more coming later, so you didn't completely lose interest. I loved the chemistry between Bella and Jacob, and I also loved how Taylor's smile lit up the whole screen. Jacob and Billy Black were wonderfully cast.
The cafeteria scene with Bella's three admirers had me laughing out loud, and basically all through the movie, Bella's well-cast "posse" was extremely entertaining. I thought Mike was extremely adorable, and I loved the character.
The vampires were, of course, gorgeous. I heard some complaints about their "pasty" makeup and how cheesy it was, but I wasn't bothered at all. I think Kellan and Nikki did AMAZING jobs as Emmett and Rosalie. Kellan truly was the perfect Emmett. He looked strong, terrifying, and gorgeous, but was also hilarious. Some people stated early on that Nikki wasn't pretty enough to be Rosalie, and she didn't have the experience to pull the role off, but I think she succeeded in displaying both stunning beauty and extreme resentment towards Bella. Plus, her and Kellan looked amazing together and I think they have great chemistry. Jackson as Jasper was a hilarious choice, especially with Jessica's observation that he was "always in pain". And I'm not the first to point out my absolute love of Alice's graceful kick while she pitched during the baseball scene, which was a very well executed scene. Elizabeth was satisfactory as Esme, but Peter as Carlisle nearly made me drop dead--he was exactly as I pictured him. All the Cullens were phenomenal, can't wait to see more of them.
But I left out the last Cullen--Edward. Robert was truly AMAZING. A couple times he overdid it a little, but it was forgivable. He seemed so determined to live up to everyone's expectations, and I thought his performance was WAY above my expectations.
For Kristen, however, I was mildly disappointed. I expected her to make more facial expressions at the times when she was stiff and unmoving, and I was hoping she would stop blinking so many times or calm down when it seemed she was overreacting. Her acting at times was painful and crappy and I almost wished for another Bella. At some scenes her voice just annoyed me (hospital scene at the end), and the fact that she was so lifeless sometimes gave off the feeling that she stopped caring. Robert seemed so determined, and she seemed bored half the time, and not in the way Bella was supposed to.
I also thought some scenes were very rushed, like the meadow scene. It seemed forced and way less romantic than it should have been. I don't think that scene really did the movie any justice. I imagined Edward sparkling in the sun a little differently, and the line, "This is the skin of a killer!" was cheesy as hell. The awkwardness of them laying in the meadow together was also a little painful. They looked like they could have been a little more engaged in each other with their bodies in order to match the undeniable chemistry with their faces.
The kiss scene, however, was incredible, and I loved every second of it, even when Edward had to stop himself. The biggest things that bothered me, though, was that there was really only one kiss, in the big kiss scene, before James threatened to kill Bella. And they never once exchanged "I love you"s throughout the whole movie. It wasn't quite the same for me, but overall, I was impressed by the Cullens and Bella's friends. I could have been a lot more impressed by Kristen as Bella, but I was still shocked at times by the chemistry her and Rob shared.
At the prom in the end, I didn't mind the one converse shoe paired with the leg cast, since I know that's Kristen's signature, but the legging paired with the high fashion dress just looked tacky. Edward was adorable sitting at the table with Charlie, and he just looked gorgeous overall. I loved the tension between Jacob and Edward, sort of as a foreshadowing. At the end, they danced and kissed and they all lived happily ever after, right? WRONG! Victoria was at the prom watching them, and she took her wild red hair down and smiled evilly, which was a definite foreshadowing for New Moon. And...THE END!
Overall, I would recommend you see it. I definitely want to see it again. Although I had a lot of criticism for it, half the time when Rob was on the screen, I was thinking to myself, "He's so gorgeous!" And, even more impressive, I was so proud when one of my non-fan friends asked me to lend her the book so she could read it! I think this movie is a great way to get more people, who were generally not interested in the series, to get interested! So take your friends and go see it!