The Obligatory Twilight Movie Review

So November 21st finally arrived, and all the little fangirls flocked to the theaters in their Team Edward shirts to moon over their celebrity boyfriends, but I stayed home. I managed to control myself and put off seeing Twilight until Saturday November 22nd. My sister and I went, telling my mom we were going shopping so she'd agree to watch my nephews without being annoyed that we didn't invite her. I'll admit, my sister and I were giggling like two teenyboppers on their way to Hot Topic as the lights went down. The showing we chose was at 12:30 p.m., and that was a good choice. It was nearly sold out, and when we left the movie at 2:35 there were already fifty or so people lined up for the 3:00 screening.

We watched, completely enthralled. Each time something significant happened we'd turn to each other and giggle, or share a knowing look. We'd been waiting for this for months, and now that it was finally here, we were crawling out of our skin and could barely sit still long enough to pay attention. When it was over, we got to the car and couldn't stop talking about it. "I want to see it again," she told me, and I did too.

What can I say? I loved it! I'll allow that there were some incredibly cheesey parts, but the good far outweighed the bad. And also, how could I not love it? It's teenage vampire romance!

I've outlined good and bad points below. Proceed with caution - there are spoilers:

The Bad:

• The special effects. More than anything else, this really disappointed me.
• Edward's random and sudden decision to show Bella what he looks like in the sun. It just came out of nowhere. I don't see why this approach was preferable to the meadow scene described in the book. Not that I'm particularly attached to the book's description like some of the fans, I just think it was really clumsily done in the movie and I don't see what the point was in changing it.
• The whole "lion/lamb" speech. I understand why they left that in there. I know there would've been massive backlash if it had been omitted. But still. Cheeseball.
• Not discussing Jasper's power of crowd control. How did this get swept under the rug?
  
• Kristin Stewart. Oh man, that girl can't act. It might've bothered me less if she hadn't spent half the film stuttering.
• Cam Gigandet. He completely overacted.

The Good:

• Robert Pattinson and Jackson Rathbone. I loved their portrayals of Edward and Jasper, respectively. Jasper only had a handful of lines, but Jackson knew how to play up the performance, even when not speaking, and he really left an impression.
• Taylor Lautner. This one surprised me. I'd gone in there expecting him to be mediocre at best, but while I didn't like the goofy wig they had him wearing, I think his portrayal of Jacob was really good. Way to prove me wrong.
• Peter Facinelli. What a treat to see him on screen again! It had felt like ages. I'm glad such a talented actor is getting meaningful work.
  
• Billy Burke and Michael Welch. Playing Charlie and Mike Newton doesn't leave them with much screen time, but they did an excellent job with what little they had. I look forward to seeing them reprise their roles in New Moon.
• The scene where Bella first comes to Edward's house to meet his family. This scene wasn't even in the book, but it fit perfectly with the movie. The awkwardness between her and the vampires was perfect and adorable. This is yet another scene where Jasper shone.
  
• Vampire baseball. I was worried this wouldn't translate well to screen, but I was pleasantly surprised. It was one of the most enjoyable scenes in the entire movie.
• Weird dream and flashback scenes and cinematography. I loved the quirky camera angles and dream sequences, especially when Bella is investigating the origin of the Cullens and has the vampire dream and when Carlisle bites Edward. Can you say "shmexy?"

which leads me to...

• Eye candy. That's what this whole movie was. It was just entertaining the whole way through, even when it was being ridiculous.

So was it the best movie I've ever seen? No. Did it meet my expectations? Honestly, it surpassed them. Will I buy the dvd? Abso-fucking-lutely! I'll be getting the special edition 3 disc dvd that costs a bazillion dollars, and I'll watch every single extra that comes with it.