Movie Review: Breaking Dawn, Part I

Last Saturday night I went to see Breaking Dawn Part I with a couple of friends from work. I was there an hour before the movie started and was third in line so we were able to find good seats toward the back of the theater. I wasn't very excited about seeing this movie until I saw the trailers. I wanted to see the wedding and see just how the director would portray some of the scenes from the book such as the birth. 

The positives: 

The wedding scenes were beautiful and I love the soundtrack and the way songs from the earlier films were incorporated, such as Iron and Wine's "Flightless Bird, American Mouth" (the song Bella and Edward dance to at the prom). The soundtrack/score is fantastic and I liked it much more than the Eclipse soundtrack/score (my favorite songs are "Turning Page" and Christina Perri's "A Thousand Years"). There were some funny scenes too which kind of helps when the movie takes a darker turn later on. I thought the makeup artists did a good job with Bella both for the wedding and the scenes where she is pregnant. She really did look like she was seriously ill. Something else I liked was the interaction between Bella and her parents. It had this nice bittersweet quality. I also think the honeymoon scenes were handled tactfully. I was really grateful for this because in the row in front of me, a mother had brought her little girls to watch the movie. I felt like saying "close your eyes!" at a couple of the scenes but it wasn't that bad. Another positive was that a particular plot point from the book was eliminated in the film and I am so glad. I do not want to spoil anything for those who haven't seen it yet but if you are dying to know, highlight to read: It was the scene where Edward asks Jacob to father a child with Bella. Really glad they left it out!

The negatives:

There are of course some cheesy scenes and dialogue but that is typical for this franchise from the beginning and it didn't bother me much. The special effects were a real disappointment to me considering how far we've come since the release of Twilight in 2008. The look of the wolves in this one was especially bad and their scenes were not that great (in wolf form). The movie also didn't have a lot going on. I think this is just because it is part one and it didn't have a sense of completeness. Part two should be more action packed (I hope).

Overall:

While this movie wasn't a great movie, I did like it for what it was and I enjoyed being able to watch it with friends who also like the Twilight series. Since I've only read Breaking Dawn once unlike the rest of the series, I can't accurately compare the two but I think it was pretty faithful to the book. One thing I will mention-there are some gory parts so if you are squeamish, you might want to wait to see it on DVD/Blu-ray instead of on the big screen. Breaking Dawn Part I may not be anywhere near the Harry Potter series or other book-to-movie adaptations but it was still fun and entertaining. It is better than the first movie if it doesn't quite live up to New Moon or Eclipse due to special effects issues and lack of suspense/action. If you haven't seen the movie yet, be sure to stick around for the credits as there is an extra scene! As for me, I am hoping to go see the movie again this coming weekend with my sister.