Twilight - a book & movie review

When it first started, I really didn't understand the whole hype about the Twilight saga and movie.  But recently I bought the entire series through Barnes & Nobles (and since I went through the Box Tops Marketplace my school will be getting a 6% donation), and now I understand the hype...sort of.

I devoured all four books in a matter of days, and I now understand what all the hype is about.  It's a great series, but I must admit that I might be a bit biased - for some inexplicable reason, I have always been fascinated and attracted to anything vampire.  Read all of the Anne Rice books I could get my hands on, probably at too young of an age, and I am so throughly obsessed with the vampire thing that I even kept up with Buffy the Vampire Slayer like it was my new religion. 

My weird and crazy obsession aside, I really appreciated the series for its depth, suspense, and character relationships.  Ultimately, it is a love story.  But the great thing is that it doesn't read like some sappy romance and there are actually other events happening outside of the love story.  There is no "filler" junk - every single word matters and is ultimately important.  I've read a lot of series, but the Twilight saga is honestly the first one where I find myself re-reading a passage in a previous book - because that's just how much every single thing is related to each other.  It's a true universe. 

And then tonight, I watched the movie.  And this is where I don't get the hype.  People were tripping over themselves about the actor who plays Edward, but honestly...after watching the movie I think he's all wrong for the role.  Maybe it's just my take on Edward, but he just doesn't seem like an Edward.  Don't get me wrong, the actor is some fine looking eye candy, and while I do understand that Edward is incomprehensibly gorgeous and all that, I'm pretty sure they could have found someone better (especially in the acting skills department).

The girl that plays Bella, on the other hand, is exactly what I imagined Bella to be...perfect match.  Although I was under the impression that Bella is supposed to be kind of...simple non-beautiful looking.  Granted, I thought the acting was a bit...immature and HSM, and I really shudder to think how the same actress can pull it off when it comes time to make the last sequel, but compared to the drastic mis-match that is Edward, I think I can live with what they did to Bella.

That being said, I am so utterly disappointed.  Now, I know better than to expect 100% of the book represented, but saying that 10% of the book was included is being very generous.  It's going to be really funny watching them make the sequels work.  As I said before, there is no "filler" in the book - every single conversation and every single word counts.  Not only does it give you a good feel of exactly how deep and profound their relationship is, a lot of that information is also essential to the rest of the saga.  After watching the movie, the relationship between Edward and Bella seems something more like a high school crush or infatuation, and cannot even be compared with what it actually is.

If you've watched the movie and loved it, but haven't read the books, treat yourself and get the entire saga.  Set aside a couple of days and just read them - you will find your head spinning.  If you loved the movie for what it was, you will forget to breath when you see for yourself how it really should have been.

Meanwhile, I will be sitting here giggling to myself thinking about how they're going to make a sequel.  I don't think I will be able to watch the sequel in theaters - people will be shooting me mean looks since I'll probably be laughing my way through the entire thing, considering they made such a huge (and detached) mess of things in the first movie.