lacks proper development- sorely disappointed

Rating: 4/10 (24 November 2008)

I loved the twilight books, but was not naive enough to think the movie would measure up. But, there is a difference between measuring up and falling frighteningly short.
PROS: The storyline wasn't messed with too much, 1/2 of the main characters were cast well, the scenic shots were beautiful, 30-40 minutes of the movie (from baseball to hospital) were great
CONS: 1/2 of the main characters were badly miscast, over an hour of the movie was very slow, and lacked development in the scenes.
I'm not sure if Rob Pattinson had trouble with an American accent, or if he just couldn't portray the passion (either for love or thirst) for bella appropriately but most of the time he just seemed constipated and a little slow- rather than conflicted and passionate. I was let down because i was expecting more. His acting fell incredibly short and in the end if he couldn't pull off passion he shouldn't have been cast. (yea start booing and hissing at me now....)
I was let down with the casting of Carlisle, Rosalie and Jasper- the biggest problem being that forcing bad peroxide jobs just made them look scary, not at all the beautiful creatures they should have been. The one character that was a home-run for me was Alice. She was spot on for what you would expect- definitely the bright spot for the rather small role she played. I would have liked her friendship with Bella to be developed, but that just seemed par for the course- read on...
But more than bad acting and casting was the lack of character and relationship development. The movie read as a checklist for events in the book, not an evolving and growing love story. Edward and Bella seem to go from not knowing what to make of their encounters to saying they can't live without one another without ever having a progression of their love play out. There's no chance for them to FALL in love, nor for the audience to fall in love with them.
BOTTOM LINE: I was left bored, and detached from what should have been the start of a passionate love story.