Breaking Dawn: Part 1

*Warning: Spoiler Alert*

I got a chance to see Breaking Dawn: Part 1 this weekend. Now, to be fair, with all two part series (Harry Potter for example), the first part is always boring and they save all the good stuff for part two. Now with that disclaimer, I have to say I found this movie to be mediocre at best. Lets' dig in...

We start off with the wedding to end all weddings. Alice of course plans this extravagant wedding for Edward and Bella. I personally, did not like Bella's dress. I had been waiting to see this for a while and I think the dress was disappointing. I do however love the addition of the something old and something blue hair clip that belonged to Grandma Swan. The wedding was lovely except for the small interlude of them pretending nobody was there. I actually hated all the dream reveries and nightmares that Bella had. I think they could've done without these in the movie.

On to the honeymoon, which was as I expected it to be. I love how they stop in Rio and they dance and then head off to Esme Island. I particularly liked how they showed the breaking of the bed, playing chess and spending time together. I thought they should've touched upon Edward making her eggs every morning, this was an endearing part I would have liked to see. With that being said, they did however make more love and sex scenes. I was a bit confused as to if they waited until that last day to finally have sex or they had been doing it the whole honeymoon.

She becomes pregnant and her belly is growing fast. I loved the makeup and special effects job they did on Bella. They made her look gaunt and sickly, just like the baby was eating her alive from inside. I think they could've touched more on the now close relationship with her and Rosalie, since they have been sworn enemies the entire series.

Now onto the wolves. Jacob breaks off into his own pact with Seth and Leah. (Was Leah played by a different actress this movie? I was questioning that the whole time) and they never showed Jacob making the internal decision to be Alpha male that was always his choice. Also with Jacob, he was there for Bella, but I wish they showed more of why he was there for her more than ever. They could've spouted some more lines from Bella on how she "needed" Jacob around, to hint at the imprinting cliff hanger.

Now, in the book, they spend pages on showing how the venom was seeping into her body and the internal struggle she had while the transformation was going on. This was hard to convey on screen. In fact, some of the movie was laughable, which I felt embarrassed for the book. This was my favorite book of the series and for people to be laughing, makes a mockery out of Stephanie Meyer's vision.

Finally, the baby arrives, Renesme. But in the vision, she has curly red hair and in the book it says curly blonde hair. Confused again. We find out that Jacob has imprinted on baby Cullen and now the pack cannot hurt her because those are the rules. One rule that Weres live by. Ok, people in the theatre roared with laughter at this moment. It just seemed so ridiculous as they were saying it so seriously.

We end with Bella waking up with bright red eyes. No surprise, she is a vamp and now we have to wait another year for the second movie to come out.

What were your thoughts on this installment? Were you disappointed or was this on par with your expectations? What could they have done better to portray the book in all its glory?