Surprised

Rating: 9/10 (22 April 2010)

I had never heard of Twilight books, hadn't seen the movie trailers either. I know..."what planet do you live on"? The planet of being a 28 year old mother of 2 kids! One day, bored, husband out of town and dying to see a movie I brought my kids to the local theater and looked for something we could all enjoy....maybe. My kids were 5 and 10 (girl and boy) and I couldn't find anything that wasn't either waaaay too young for me or waaaay too old for them. We saw Twilight listed and I asked the ticket-lady what it was about, was it scary, etc. My kids loved Interview with a Vampire and any other vamp movie or scary movie (to a point). The ticket people said it would be a good fit for both of them...if not, I could always walk out. We went in, I had NO expectations, but was currently watching the TrueBlood HBO series and love vamp stuff. It was painfully slow, but not in the "get on with it" kind of way. In a time-lapse love story kind of way. I loved all of the characters, the twist of the glittery vamp vs. the dust or hellfire in the sunlight. I adored the music, the cinematography. The piano solo over the treetop scene still gives me spinal tingles. (I have a few songs from the soundtrack I listen to often) The baseball scene was a favorite of mine, unlike others who are critical, its a first in any vampire series where they do something other than simply brood and feed. I liked for the first time seeing a girl start a new school and make friends...which is more like real life. Almost all movies involving a high school is so unbelievably over-dramatic with the stereotypes (seperation between geeks/jocks/popular, etc), this high school depiction was refreshing and realistic. My overall experience when leaving this movie was that we had spent our money very well, it was worth my butt going numb and that I would love to see the next one. My only gripe is Bella, not Kristen Stewart, but BELLA! Stop twitching like a crack head, speak in full sentences! Its really annoying to watch her talk. I like the character other than the twitching. I'm irritated now after reading on here that the author is Mormon, which explains why no love scenes...but I guess that is why it was age appropriate and adored by my kids. I am a serious novel reader...anything I can get my hands on I will read. But I also know that a book turned movie will always disappoint. IF I have read the book, I will NOT see the movie and vise-versa. So I still refuse to read the book, as I will be irritated one way or another. My son went back (despite my warnings) and read the books, he now agrees with me and will never do it again. As we saw New Moon and he couldn't help but point out "Thats not in the book!"...so to all of you who have read the book, forget the movie. To those who have seen the movie, forget the books, lol. You will dislike one or the other....unless you're just a total Twilight-obsessed groupie, in which case, seek help.