Twilight

I just watched the movie Twilight last night after reading all 4 books that are out in the series. I would highly recommend reading the book before seeing the movie. I think too many details are missing from the movie for it to really mean a whole lot.

With that said, disclaimer: There may be spoilers in the rest of this blog. I loved the books and have read Twilight twice now, along with the draft of Edward's point of view of Twilight, so I can't remember what might be a spoiler.

I got the books from a friend of mine who read the series but didn't care for it. So I wasn't sure if I would like it at all, but I am an avid reader so I decided to try it. I ended up loving the series. I am a sucker for romance and I think the books were well written. The target is young adult but they are well written for that genre. The story flows well, it's easy to read, and I like the plot. Out of the books, the 2nd was my least favorite by far although I did like the series on a whole.

Getting back to the movie. I was really disappointed. For anyone who hasn't and won't read it, it's about a human girl and a vampire boy (high school age) who end up falling in love. Basic story there. In the movie, they skip all the build up of them wondering about each other, getting to know each other, etc. If I hadn't read the book, I would have wondered why they even got together.

It's also missing the chemistry- the fact that they do kiss and he pulls away and she keeps pushing for more. There are a lot of details that are missing: she makes dinner for her dad and that's emphasized in the book and not even mentioned in the movie, how she finds out he's a vampire is different, they skip school a lot, you don't see her getting to be friends with Alice... The list goes on. I was also very disappointed in who they cast as actors for the roles. Bella is very monotone and boring. Edward... ok what is up with his hair? Jacob is nothing like I pictured. And I am not discriminatory, but this takes place in a small town outside Seattle. I come from a small town and it was primarily white. They have a very diverse mixture of people in the movie. It's ok but not what I expected.

More differences from the book- the scene in the hospital (after Edward saves Bella from the van), Edward isn't in the room with her and some of that conversation is missing and downplayed, plus she didn't actually hit her head when he threw her back from the van. Speaking of hitting her head, the scene in the ballet classroom is different too. Well, James still throws her in the glass but I thought she hit her head really hard. Also, Victoria, James, and Laurent didn't show up in the book until the baseball game. What are they going to do in the 2nd movie, have a repeat of animals killing people? Finally, Bella is really clumsy and that hardly comes across in the movie. That was big as well in the books.

Most of the movie I could point out tons of details that were missing or different. I think that's what disappointed me most. I don't think this was even a decent representation of the book.