Good but not amazing

Rating: 7/10 (23 November 2008)

*May contain spoilers!!* As a Twilight fan I had very high hopes for this movie. That being said, my first mistake was going on a Saturday when all the tweens in Team Edward shirts were out. They literally sighed in unison when "Edward" appeared on screen. Anywho, I thought the casting for this movie was actually very accurate as to how I saw them in my head. Except Laurent. I guess I pictured him differently. I did feel the entire courtship between Edward and Bella was a bit rushed and some of my more cherished lines were lost in translation. The scene in the forest where Edward appears to be TRYING to frighten Bella is very out of place. Never in the book do I remember him flaunting how easily he could kill her. That seemed unnecessary. Charlie was AMAZING! I love love loved him!! The relationship between Bella and him was adorable and completely believable. Alice was charming. I loved the baseball scene. Very graceful....Jacob was a letdown, I must say. I guess I pictured him as a little more rough around the edges. He looked like a girl more than he did a boy. Also, the open hostility between him and Edward at the prom was completely absent from the books so I guess they are rushing Jacobs attitude problems to free up time for New Moon. The entire makeup was pretty awful though. A lot like pancake batter on their faces. And the sparkling scene was a huge let down.
But, for all the things I was disappointed in, the movie was actually very good. If you haven't read the books, it makes PERFECT sense. If you have, you notice a lot left out. But of course, a movie is an interpretation of a book and can never be exact. Maybe if it was a 250 page soft back instead of a 600+ page NOVEL. The only unforgivable mistake I feel they made was the sparkle scene. In the novel, he first shows Bella in that gorgeous meadow he leads her to. Not in the mountains "above cloud cover" after skipping class. I feel that was a real detriment to the entire movie because later on in the second book, Bella runs into an old enemy because she was searching for this exact clearing to hold on to memories of Edward. I'm wondering how that will play out now in New Moon. All in all, I feel I got my $8 worth. And I have high hopes for the next movie because I am sure writes and directors can learn from critics such as myself and improve.