Perhaps Vampires Is A Bit Strong But...

I am sucked in, for lack of a better term, to the mini True Blood marathon on HBO. So while I watched these vampires, let me write about some others.

Like I said the other day, Ali and I saw Twilight on Thanksgiving. I had read all four books about halfway through the hysteria. I finished the 3rd one just as Breaking Dawn came out so I wasn't as invested as the people writing "Bite Me, Edward" on them at the release parties, but I was more into it than the average Joe who had yet to pick any of them up. I'm a fan of a good story. If remembering that the books are for teens and written to also promote abstinence, then they're pretty good. So while I don't consider the books fine literature, I think they're very entertaining and I guess I could say that about the film version as well.

First off...the casting.

+Robert Pattinson as Edward Cullen is perfect. He's hott. And brooding. And did I mention hott? I am so glad the film version of Edward did not constantly "wrap his arms around Bella's waist" as he seemed to constantly do in the books. I think I like film Edward way more than book Edward.

+Kristen Stewart as Bella Swan. She's described as being kind of dumpy in the books (yet beautiful...mostly just dumpy clothes) so I was pleasantly surprised that she did not go around wearing khakis and blue silk shirts in the movie. My only negative is her way of acting flustered...it looked a little like Tourette's. Otherwise, she was as I imagined, yet they left out a lot of her clumsiness in the movie.

+Taylor Lautner as Jacob Black. Ali really liked him. I heard some people say he wasn't cute enough, but I wouldn't say that. And apparently he is not as tall as described in the books, but I thought he was well cast. He definitely looked younger than her and is supposed to start getting a lot bigger soon, so that should be interesting.

+Gil Birmingham as Billy Black was dead on how I imagined him. Perfect.

+Peter Facinelli as Carlisle Cullen. He is married to Jennie Garth. He looked so young, but otherwise, he was great. So was Esme. She was as I imagined her.

+Alice was good, except I didn't know she had short, choppy black hair until book 4, I think. Jasper made me laugh every time he came on screen because he looked like the younger brother of Edward Scissorhands.

+Rosalie and Emmett were fine, too. I loved the scene, *THUMP* "Oh, it's just Emmett."

+Charlie was awesome. I had pictured him as older and with grey hair for some reason, but I think that is because my dad has gray hair. I always love the dad in a movie.

So enough about casting. I thought it was a good adaptation. Not much seemed to be left out (unless I forgot A LOT of the book, which is possible). Ali and I have been reenacting the car scene all week: "Your hands are ice cold!" "Put on your seat belt!" I was curious before seeing it if it would come across as believable and I'm not talking about the vampires. Would it come across as real that Bella and Edward love each other or would they just seem like stupid teenagers? The progression from meeting to loving was quick, but believable, in my opinion. It was also a quick progression in the movie from Bella wondering what makes Edward different and hearing the Quileute story and piecing everything together that he is a vampire. "How old are you?" "17" "How long have you been 17?" "Awhile."

Twilight is one of those "go to" movies. When you want to sit down and be entertained for a couple of hours, but don't want to invest in something too deep. It's like when I pick Cruel Intentions over Babel for a movie to put on.

Oh, and my favorite thing about the movie? It ending with a Radiohead song. <3!


Has anyone else seen it? Thoughts?


XO,
SVR