Loved it, but could have been better

Rating: 7/10 (20 December 2008)

Overall, I thought that this movie was good, not the greatest, but definitely enjoyable. It was cast really well and some of the scenes were great. The dialogue tended to be cheesy and there were a lot of parts that weren't supposed to be funny that had the whole theater laughing.
The cast of the film was great! I thought that everyone was perfect for their roles, especially Alice, Emmett, Edward, and Charlie. Charlie was spot on and exactly like the character in the book. I also liked the cast of Forks kids, although I doubt that Forks is that diverse. Kristen definitely needs some acting lessons though. Sometimes characters over acted but when they settled into their parts they were great. I love the characters of Alice and Jasper and Emmett, and they were totally de-emphasized in the movie.
Edward and Bella's relationship definitely happened too fast in the movie. I've been rereading the book and they talk a lot about everything possible. There should have been a lot more development. One thing that bugged me was in the book the meadow scene is one of the most important, where Bella and Edward pledge themselves and pour their souls out to each other. In the movie all they did was lie down and look at each other. Edward's reaction in biology class when he first met Bella was ridiculously over the top and never once in the movie did they say "I love you"
I wished they would have told the histories and background stories of the Cullens/Hales and said what Jasper's ability was, as it would have made more sense to people who haven't read the books why he looked in pain all the time.
The special effects could have used some work, especially the sparkling. However, I thought the baseball scene was great, one of my favorites. The flour-like white makeup, especially on Carlisle, was terrible looking. I've seen other movies where they manage to make the characters look very pale and it looks real, so hopefully for the next movie they'll get a better makeup crew.
I think while the story of James wasn't as important, they had to include it in the movie to help it appeal to a wider range, guys mostly. I loved the action scene, though it wasn't in the book, and I thought James was delightfully evil and cruel. He gave me shivers.
Summit fired Catherine Hardwicke for New Moon, so hopefully the next director will be a lot better. I think she caused most of the problems in this movie.