One of the pleasures of having a teenage daughter is the opportunity to share silly, girlly experiences. While I understand all of the criticism about the Twilght series, and agree with some, as I’ve written before, I’ve enjoyed the ride. Even more, I’m grateful for the opportunity to share the sheer reading fun with my daughter. Kelsey has read the series multiple times, in fact her books look much worse for the wear. I’ve read it once, in two reading saturated days, just like when I was a teenager.
One of the pleasures of living in Los Angeles is that occasionally we get a Hollywood experience, for us it meant that Kelsey and I had a mother-daughter date to the “Breaking Dawn-Part 1″ premiere and after party. This is our second Twilight series date, we were able to attend the “Eclipse” event also. This time was better for the fact that we knew it was going to be a terrific night. Kelsey decided she wasn’t going to scream as much this time, I told her I was, and there was plenty to cheer about. While I don’t recall any shirt-popping-turning-into-a-werewolf-scenes, the kiss after the vows was worth losing our voices over. The wedding scene is beautiful. The pacing was great, Bella’s nerves were appropriate (remember walking a straight line for several yards can be a challenge for her), and Edwards adoration obvious.
In many ways, this was my favorite movie of the series. For me, the story is about Edward and Bella and everything else is frosting, sometimes too much frosting. ”Eclipse” arguably may be the better movie, but this is a romance, let’s not make it anything more. I liked the character development in “Eclipse” but there wasn’t enough Bella and Edward. With “Breaking Dawn,” given that the bulk of the movie is about their wedding and honeymoon, we get to revel in their chemistry. Bella gets a backbone in “Breaking Dawn” and I do wish that we would have seen a little more of that interaction between the two of them as she insisted on having the baby.
The reviews, as if they matter, are mixed. The New York Times liked the movie and thought it was the best of the bunch. The Los Angeles Times, not so much. In some ways, it feels like the battle of the directors, which director did the reviewer like best.
In the end, my favorite scene from all four movies is the last 5 seconds of this one, especially given that this is just a pause before the rest of the story is told on November 16, 2012. Great finish, even Kelsey cheered.
Claire
Kim
