Twilight - has lost its shimmer

Rating: 6/10 (20 December 2008)

2008 marked, what feels like the first Christmas in ages without a Harry Potter movie, and this year we were treated to the launch of another novelised franchise -Twilight.
Twilight focuses on the romantic relationship between a seventeen year old girl Bella and her complicated boyfriend Edward Cullen - the complication being that Edward is in fact a vampire, albeit a "vegetarian" vampire.
A lot of the dialogue was lifted straight from Meyers novel and did not make a successful translation from page to screen and a lot of the intimate scenes between Bella and Edward were just clunky and awkward. The scene in the science lab were both characters meet each other for the first time looked clichéd and amateurish. There was just to much melodrama for me - even the piano score was a bit to much.
The special effects look cheap and nasty. They would have just been better not showing Edward running through the trees or the director should have watched some wushu movies just to at least get the impression of running through the trees correct and don't get me started on Edwards twinkling skin.
The most entertaining part of the whole movie was the actual Cullen Family, who, as they did in the book, have a much greater presence than the two main characters, and unfortunately, as in the book, their screen time is very limited.
Overall the movie was OK - I liked the book much better, although, after the second book in the series I gave up because I was bored I would give Twilight 6/10. If you haven't read the book or heard of Edward Cullen before you go then avoid at all costs as the awkward dialogue, terrible effects and teen romance will make you cringe with embarrassment. Twilight is best watched and appreciated by those who already love it.