From Page to Film: Breaking Dawn Part 1

I'm basing this post on the first two "Books" in the novel since that is what is included in the film. I wasn't expecting a great film since the book was slow and boring on it's own I couldn't see it being an exciting two hour film let alone four hours. After watching the first film I'm not sure how they can fill two more hours without having it drag like this film dragged.

The book mostly entails the characters sitting around waiting for things to happen. First they sit around and wait for the wedding. Then they sit around and wait for the baby to kill Bella. Then they do more waiting while they wait for Bella to wake up as a vampire.

First let me state that if I had watched this trailer first I could have just skipped the movie because it shows every key moment in the film. They either wanted to give it all away because they knew tweens would go see the film multiple times anyways or they had so little to use for the trailer that they had to show everything and hope people wouldn't notice.

For the most part the movie stayed fairly close to the novel. There were a few plot points left out or change to make it easier for people who never read the books. Although the amount of people seeing this film who didn't read the book is properly low.

There was only one scene that was worth watching and that is because the scene was hilariously bad. It was the scene with the Wolves deciding to attack the Cullens and they are in their wolf bodies. The voice over work is done so poorly that a moment that is supposed to be essential to the movie, Jacob choosing to be an Alpha to protect Bella, comes across as hilarious. I had to stop watching because I was laughing so hard. It reminded me of the old Transformers and GI Joe cartoons except those were cool in the 80's. 

The other scene that stood out was a scene with Jacob imprinting on a baby. Mostly because the scene was creepy. Watching the baby grow in Jacobs mind just seemed wrong to me. I disliked the imprinting idea in the novel and it did not translate well to film. Maybe it's because imprinting is like finding your soul mate and it just seems wrong to imprint with a baby.

I had read that the birth scene was gross. But it didn't bother me at all. Mostly because at the point I just wanted the film to be done.

Overall it was no worse then the previous three films. The acting was just as bad and the dialogue was just as clunky. The film gets bonus points for the scenes that were so hilariously bad that they could have fit into a bad spoof movie.

It's sad to see good actors like Billy Burke and Peter Facinelli. Especially Facinelli. My wife watches Nurse Jackie and although I don't care for the show I do like him as Dr. Cooper. When I do watch the show with Nessa I love it when he is on screen because the character is so well done.

The rest of the actors are just bad especially the actors playing the wolves. The scenes involving them are just dreadful and cringe worthy. Except for the scene mentioned above, but only because it reminds of old cartoons I loved as a kid.

They could have cut out like an hour of the film and included the last section of the film. But when you have girls who are willing to shell out the bucks to see Part Two then I can't blame the movie studio for taking advantage of the Twilight cash cow.

One more film to go!