Movie Review: Breaking Dawn Part 1

 

 

Title: Breaking Dawn Part 1

Author: Book by Stephanie Myer

Format: Movie, DVD released February 2012Distributed by: Summit Entertainment, LLCDirected by: Bill Condon Starring: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner Rated: PG-13

Synopsis (courtesy of http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/the-twilight-saga-breaking-dawn-part-1/production-details.html)

Bella and Edward, plus those they love, must deal with the chain of consequences brought on by a marriage, honeymoon, and the tumultuous birth of a child… which brings an unforeseen and shocking development for Jacob Black

 

 You haven’t even needed to watch the movies or read the books to know what this is about. I think everyone has heard of the Twilight Saga, which follows the story of Bella, a fragile human who falls in love with Edward, a vampire. Luckily for Bella, Edward loves her back and fights his urge to turn her into dinner. Also in this series is Jacob Black, hottie turned even hotter werewolf. Jacob is also in love with Bella.

 I have read the Twilight Saga and I have also seen all the movies. This is the first review I am writing on any of them though (due to the fact I read and watched them all before I started writing reviews, lol).

 So since I haven’t told you how I felt about the other movies and books allow me to enlighten you: I liked them. Lol. Okay, fine, I will elaborate a little. I liked the book series better, but isn’t that usually how it goes with any book to movie? Books just have more time and more detail and so they tend to be better. But I liked all these movies. I thought that the first movie Twilight was the worst portrayal of all the books.

 The settings of all these movies have been absolutely beautiful and I have enjoyed watching them on screen. My favorite movie so far of the first four is New Moon. I think that’s because it’s all Jacob and I love me some Jacob. Lol.

 Now that you know a little about my thoughts on the books and movies let’s get on to this review.

I enjoyed Breaking Dawn Part 1. It wasn’t what I had been expecting though. I thought the beginning was a little slow and drawn out. There was a lot of focus on the wedding and the wedding night, more than I thought there would be. (A note on the wedding night: this movie was not explicit and didn’t show much nudity but I would still say this would be suitable for an older teen audience, not a younger one.)

 I thought that the scenery was beautiful, the wedding setting was gorgeous and the attention to detail was really good. The plot is good, I already knew what was going to happen but I like the story line of this series. It’s a unique depiction of vampires.

 One of the elements I thought was really cool about this movie was the way they were able to make Bella look while pregnant. How thin and frail, the way her bones jutted out was really real looking and almost kind of eerie. I liked the way the movie showed how her memories flashed through her mind during her “change”.

 One element that surprised me was the fight scene between the vamps and the wolves at the end of the movie. I didn’t remember that part from the book, but there isn’t a rule that says the movie has to follow the book exactly. I thought it worked in the movie though because it added some drama and action to the movie where there might not have been any. I like the wolves in the movies as well, they are big and hulking which they really need to be. I will say I don’t think the wolf pack (Jacob not included) were really fitting. Yes, they looked like teenage boys (which they were) but the whole thing about the werewolf is that it makes them bigger and stronger, they didn’t look that way to me. Lol.

 I liked the end of the movie as well… the red eyes. It was a great way to end the movie. I will say I am very interested to see what part two is like. I am anticipating it to be a lot more full of action and not quite as slow in the beginning. I am also looking forward to seeing Bella as a vampire.

 I want to say that maybe it was a mistake to break the final book into two movies, but I can’t really say that until I see the final movie of this saga. Then I guess I will be able to judge that better.

 Overall, I thought it was pretty good. It entertained me and isn’t that to goal of a movie? Lol.

 So there you have it. My opinion.