Another movie post

A friend and I went to see Twilight yesterday. Yes, I read all four books. No, I am not 15 or a children's librarian or a YA librarian. No, I didn't read them just because the author is Mormon and so am I. Yes, I'm a little bit embarrassed at how much I liked the series. Why? Because it's about teenage vampires and it's a pretty sappy romance and I was an English major and should have higher standards for the stuff that I read.

Now that the Q&A is out of the way, here are my thoughts about the movie, Twilight:

• It is lesser than the book.
• It could be much worse.
• The movie includes some cheesy dialogue, bad special effects, and not particularly great acting. But it's not all bad.
  
• The movie (and the book) totally capture the despair and wonder of teenage love.
• The movie very successfully evokes the spirit of the book.
• The movie captures just what it's like to be in high school.
  

So, I enjoyed the movie. Mike was totally uninterested in seeing it (and I know he would have been groaning and rolling his eyes throughout), so I'm glad I got to see it with a lady friend rather than subjecting Mike to the experience. My very funny brother-in-law, Mike's brother, is blogging about his experience reading the Twilight series. Check it out: Edward Kidnapped My Wife.

P.S. One more thing -- recently on Times and Seasons (a Mormon blog) there was a review of Breaking Dawn, the final book in the Twilight series. ** Spoiler Alert ** The reviewer claims that Breaking Dawn is "a profoundly Mormon book by a proudly Mormon author" because it concludes the love story not just with a marriage, but with the promise of an eternal partnership (a tenet of Mormon belief). The book also makes the heroine a perfected and immortal being after her death (which is also a part of Mormon theology). Any thoughts from those of you who've read Breaking Dawn? I personally wasn't thrilled with the book, though it did satisfactorily tie up all the loose ends and effectively finish my addiction to the series.