“Twilight”
Starring Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson
Released: Nov. 21, 2008

WATCH THE TRAILER

A disappointing but humorous adaptation that didn't turn out nearly as good as the book.

Note: For Lauren Piester's review of "Twilight," click here.

AS SOMEONE WHO enjoyed reading the "Twilight" series, I was really looking forward to the movie. After seeing a few trailers, I realized that the movie would be nowhere as good as the books.

What I didn’t expect, though, was for the movie to not even reach my already low standards.

If you don’t already know, "Twilight" is about Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart), an average and clumsy girl who moves to Forks, Wash., to live with her father and falls in love with Edward Cullen (Robert Pattison), a gorgeous vampire who thirsts for her blood.

Edward is part of a "vegetarian" vampire family, who drink the blood of animals instead of humans. When some nomadic vampires come into town, one of them targets Bella and wants to "hunt" her down. It's up to Edward and his family to save her.

I don't really agree with the casting of Edward. In my opinion, Pattison — a native of London — is not very good-looking, and his American accent wasn't very convincing.

Other than Edward, the other members of the Cullen family were pretty good, even though they all had really small roles.

Someone who surprised me, though, was Stewart. After watching the trailers, I immensely disliked her because I felt that she didn't fit the part of Bella at all.

But Stewart did very well in the movie; she took Bella's plain character and added some life to it. Bella always seemed really clingy and co-dependent in the books, but Stewart came off as strong and as someone who actually had a mind of her own and didn't need Edward for every little thing.

I don't know if director Catherine Hardwicke and the other people in charge of the movie were trying to make a comedy, but that's what they ended up doing. Every single part of the movie was hilarious in a really pathetic way, even when it was supposed to be serious.

The facial expressions in the movie were hilarious. In the beginning, when Bella walks into the biology room and Edward first smells her, he's supposed to look tense because he's trying to not kill her. As Lauren Piester mentioned in her more favorable review, he ended up looking like he was constipated and trying not to throw up.

Jasper Cullen (Jackson Rathbone) definitely took the prize for weirdest faces. Even though he never said anything in the entire movie, every time he came onscreen he had this weird scrunched-up look.

My favorite character in the movie was definitely Charlie Swan (Billy Burke), Bella's dad. Even though Charlie didn't have much of a role in the book, he was really funny in the movie.

Bella's school friends were also pretty great. In the books they came off as annoying and stupid, but everything they said in the movie was hilarious and had me laughing in my seat.

My main problem with the movie was how it didn't seem to flow from scene to scene. The whole thing felt really choppy, like *BOOM* Edward and Bella meet, *BOOM* they fall in love, *BOOM* the bad vampires come, *BOOM* they deal with the bad vampires.

I understand that it's hard to condense a 500-page book into a two-hour movie, but there should have been better transitions between the scenes.

Overall, I would definitely recommend saving your money and waiting for the movie to come out on DVD before watching it, because even though it is entertaining, it is not worth your money. Or, if you enjoyed the books, don't watch it at all, because it will only make you angry, annoyed, and disappointed.

"Twilight" is currently playing at the Goodrich Savoy 16, 232 W. Burwash, Savoy, and the Beverly 18, 910 Meijers Drive, Champaign.

"Twilight" AT A GLANCE

• Starring: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Billy Burke, Ashley Greene, Nikki Reed
• Directed by: Catherine Hardwicke
• Written by: Melissa Rosenberg (screenplay), Stephenie Meyer (novel)
• Genre: Action, Horror, Romance, Thriller
• Rated: PG-13
• Runtime: 122 min.
• Release date: Nov. 21, 2008
• Summary (from IMDb): A teenage girl risks everything when she falls in love with a vampire.