I Survived the Tweens (Twilight Spoilers)

I had low expectations for Twilight. These expectations were based mostly on my (I’ll admit it) dwindling interest in the series. I thought it would be hard to translate. It’s not a complex story, but it is a delightfully cheesy romance with some action thrown in at the end. There wasn’t a big budget. I wasn’t sure about Kristen. And, the clips and trailers all seemed very inconsistent–some being awesome and some being cringe-worthy. I love Rob–he’s had me in his pocket since he played my beloved Cedric Diggory–but I didn’t think he could carry the movie alone.

No need to worry. The movie was surprisingly good. At the very least, it was decent. But, really, it was better than decent. I liked the look of the film, and though there were some rough parts in acting, writing, and special effects, they weren’t enough to ruin the film.

The theater was packed with tweens. I mean, Lisa and I were clearly the oldest people there. And, I felt my age, because these tweens were loud, some of them yelling things like “Team Edward” and “Team Jacob” way before the movie began. There was a particularly annoying group that kept yelling at the other girls to “shut the fuck up.” Yeah. But, I was so wooing along when Rob first appeared on screen. Ah, Edward.

Rob did well. Okay, maybe he overdid the pained expressions, but when he was playing cool and confident Edward instead of tortured and suicidal Edward, I was putty in his hands. That crooked smile. The Hair was on point too.

I liked Kristen as Bella. I don’t really like Bella as a character. She’s whiny and (especially in the later books) way too self-sacrificial. She lets herself be manipulated. Kristen herself seems quite the opposite. She seems very strong, and I wasn’t sure I would believe she was falling in love with this strange guy she just met and declaring they’d be together forever. Bella still seemed to lack character and interests and goals, but she wasn’t annoying. I believed her.

I was okay with the way they translated the book into a movie. It seemed to me that even people who haven’t read the book would enjoy the movie. Not that I’m the best judge of this. I don’t understand how people who haven’t read the Harry Potter books can possibly understand what’s going on in the movies, but they do.

I think I’ll see it again once the theaters are no longer packed with tweens.

Random Thoughts:

• The movie so so so made me miss the Pacific Northwest. Twilight is full of these grand, sweeping shots of trees and water. And, the rain. Funny that in my current location just outside of LA, this is the furthest I’ve ever lived from water. I’m used to Puget Sound being right there. I won’t be able to stay away forever.
• I swear Rob was wearing eyeliner in the restaurant scene.
• The people of Forks were very racially diverse–like, way more so than I’m sure the actual inhabitants of Forks are. We’ve got diversity in the major cities of Washington, but not so much in places like Forks way up on the peninsula.
• Lisa and I LOLed when they were surfing at La Push. There’s a reason people don’t flock to Washington beaches. The water is freaking freezing. I can’t even imagine. I’ve never even seen people surf off of Cannon Beach (the beach in Oregon where that scene was actually filmed).
• Jacob’s wig was terrible.
• The baseball scene was awesome.
• They should have skipped the entire dazzling sun scene. It was just weird and the effects were terrible.
• I’m glad they weren’t scared of technology. Bella had a cell phone and a laptop.
• The special effects were bad, but I loved the stunt driving.
• I’m just realizing now that they way downplayed the every boy in school is in love with Bella theme.
• Damn you Bella for making me want to grow my hair out again and dye it darker. I didn’t even care that those curls weren’t nearly as wash-and-go as we were supposed to believe.

Okay, the more I think about this movie, the more I want to pick it apart. I think the movies that follow will benefit greatly from higher budgets.