Twilight: the Movie

Let me begin by saying that when I went to see the movie I was on very little sleep so I was feeling a bit loopy, and I had a stomach full of Mexican food, so I was very content. I was also among friends, which put me in a great mood, so I was more agreeable about things than if I'd gone with a stomach full of, say, badly made tuna casserole and was sitting by myself next to a really annoying person eating popcorn with her mouth wide open and opening really noisy candy during the movie.

I went to the movie with very low expectations. I figured it would be really sappy, really poorly made, and the acting would stink all around. I still wanted to see it, of course, and I was quite pleasantly surprised. If you have read the book, you know that the book is a romance novel full of teen angst and melodrama. You also know that it is aimed at girls around age 16. It follows that a movie based on the book, if it is going to be faithful to that book, will also be full of teen angst and melodrama, and be reminiscent of TV shows aimed at 16-year-old girls. And that's exactly what it was. My point is that the movie captured the mood of the book perfectly. I'm going to break down aspects of the movie to organize my opinion and how they compared to the book:

THE CAST:
I thought Kristen Stewart was perfect as Bella: twitchy, uncomfortable, pale, awkward around everyone. I admit after an hour of her twitching and fluttering eyelids I got a little annoyed, but then I remembered that it was how Bella was described, and I got over it. I thought she was excellent at expressing her disdain for the stupidity of the goofy teenagers that surrounded her, using just her facial expressions and body language.

Robert Pattinson was always a bit of a strange choice to me. I still think of him as Cedric Diggory (which was a perfect role for him, really), and I struggled to enjoy him as Edward throughout the movie. I thought his acting was fine, although I thought his voice was totally wrong. In the books, Edward's voice is described as velvety and hypnotic, and I thought Pattinson's was a little girly. He didn't seem as suave as I had imagined him, either. There were moments, however, that he managed to look dangerous and intense, and almost hot. For example, the scene in Port Angeles where he swoops in and rescues Bella from the creepy guys. He could pull it off in short spurts, but not through the whole movie.

I loved the kid who played Jacob (I can't remember his name now, but he was Sharkboy in the movie Sharkboy and Lavagirl). He is cute and has a brilliantly white smile. My concern is that he is kind of short and petite, and somehow they will have to make him super tall and brawny for the next movie. Hmmm...

I thought Charlie was perfect. Rough around the edges, abrupt with conversation, and a little bit country.

The kids at school were great. The girl who played Jessica was perfect, and all the other kids reminded me of kids I went to high school with. Mike was pretty over the top, but overall, I was pleased. It's like Harry Potter--their acting will improve with each movie. Remember Ron in the second Harry Potter movie? Yikes.

I thought the casting for Alice, Jasper, Dr. Cullen and Esme was perfect. Jasper looked a little too intense all the time, though. His eyes were constantly bugging out like someone was poking him in the bottom with a stick. But once he gets some lines, maybe he'll cool it a little and show a bigger range of facial expressions. I thought the girl that was cast as Rosalie was pretty, but not tragically beautiful. She wasn't anything like how I imagined her physically, but I thought her acting was good. Her evil glares at Bella were perfect. Emmett was also not at all how I imagined him. Too puny. I imagined someone much more beefy and intimidating. He didn't act intimidating at all. They both seemed like strange choices, but I'm guessing budgeting had a little to do with their choices in actors.

SPECIAL EFFECTS/COSTUMES/MAKEUP:
Okay, this is where it fell a bit short. It's not fair to a low budget movie to show an awesome preview for a high budget movie like Harry Potter right before it starts. I'm sure they did the best they could with the resources they had, but the shots of Edward jumping around in the trees were a bit laughable. Anything computer generated was jumpy and clearly not part of reality. Maybe all the money they made from Twilight will help out the special effects for New Moon. Let's hope so. The fight scenes and the vampires' superpowers should be spectacular, not laughable.

I thought the costumes were great. The high school kids didn't look overly trendy, just normal. I thought the vampires would look a little more superior than the kids than they did. I thought they fit in a little too much, but I don't really know that much about fashion, so that's all I really noticed.

The vampire makeup. Oh dear. Dr. Cullen looked like a mime with too much makeup caked on. Edward looked like he had gotten into his mom's lipstick. Sometimes the vampires' skin looked normal, and sometimes it looked like caked on makeup. There's got to be a better way to make them look pale. Edward's appearance in the sun was disappointing as well. It looked more like he was just kind of wet. So I'm hoping they'll get that worked out before New Moon wraps.

THE WRAP-UP
So it was a lot like an episode of 90210, with the longing glances and the melodrama ("Say it." "You're a vampire." Intense stare and deep breathing.), but I found it very enjoyable. I think they captured the main essence of the book, and, since I enjoyed the book, I enjoyed the movie. I think one of the things that I enjoyed was watching parts of the book and thinking, "That's just how I imagined it!" Of course, certain parts were changed or left out, and that's just how it goes when switching from one medium to another. Not everything in a book works well on the screen. I try not to analyze what is missing, just how well it flows and whether or not the story is the same. And it was. It was no Oscar winner, but it was a perfect girls' night out movie. It was clearly done on a smaller budget, and, with all the hype it's getting, I'm guessing that they will make enough to use more quality materials for the next movie. The only part of the movie that I really wish were different is the casting for Edward, and now that he's been in the first movie, that won't change for the next three. So, if you haven't been to see it, if you have read the book, you should give it a try. Just don't go expecting perfection. Go expecting a low-budget TV-episode-like drama that is fun and silly.