Doesn't compare to the book ... but still good

Rating: 7/10 (13 January 2009)

OK, so the movie was a good movie, BUT it didn't compare to the book at all. It was a good movie in itself, but it lost some of the twilight feeling.
The film was far too focused on the action rather than the romance, but actually the action doesn't even take up a quarter of the book. I think anyone watching the film who had not read the book (and isn't already in love with Edward simply because he is played by Robert) will be thinking why the hell does he love her, why does she love him, especially when he could kill her? i don't think we saw the real falling in love between Edward and Bella, as we know its not love at first sight. when Edward first sees Bella (see midnight sun partial draft on Stephenie Meyer's website)he doesn't see what the fuss is about. Bella see's Edward as beautiful, but is not immediately in love with him either.
I think while Kristen Stewart is a good actress, she was not a good Bella, and did not portray her as i imagined Bella to be, which is bad, because she is the main character. However, i adored Ashley Greene's performance of Alice, i think she was graceful and very enthusiastic. i also liked the way she sung her words, as does Alice, and seemed to be dancing when she walked. I also though Jackson Rathbone made a fantastic jasper ... he did actually always look in pain! My other favourite performance was from Taylor Lautner, as Jacob. though he is hardly seen, i thought he had the perfect 'Jacob smile'. He seemed friendly, kind and funny, and we saw that he liked Bella. We also see that finds the superstitions silly, and we do see some of Jacob's true (and good) colours . There were other great performances, but these were my stand out 3.
Over all the film was a good film, but it was no where near as good as the book, and they made a few too many mistakes and left out important details/scene's at times, e.g Edward not mentioning the Volturi.