When we went to see this movie, we were all filled with excitement, anticipation, and, we were also nervous that this movie would suck. When we finished watching the movie, we couldn't stop discussing it for hours, for a number of reasons.
Reason 1: The acting was horrible. Bella was completely unconvincing in her role, Edward looked like a creep for a majority of the film, and Jasper had quite feminine expressions and qualities. Rosalie's angry expressions were poorly done, and Esme sounded like she was sarcastic.
Reason 2: Dialogue. This is probably the WORST dialogue ever written in the history of mankind. They kept the book's storyline, but changed the dialogue to this cheesy, weird, random, non-sense-making-ness. Bella was forcing her words out, and the scene in the forest where she was describing him was totally random and unnecessary. Edward had the lamest excuses you would ever hear. For example, when Bella asked him about his eyes, he replied, "Oh, it's the fluorescent…" and he left. Without another word. Also, when Bella was leaving the hospital after being in the car crash, she was interrogating him about he fast reflexes, and he replied, "Well, no one will believe YOU." And he walked away. Edward tended to walk away a lot. He kept blurting out that he could read minds, and the scene in the restaurant was completely disturbing and random.
Reason 3: Appearance. First, let's discuss Edward. Edward was probably wearing more makeup than Bella. He had ruby red lipstick on, and it didn't even look real. Charlie appeared to be wearing eyeliner. Bella was wearing makeup in the hospital after she had just been bitten. The bite mark on her arm was black and bubbling. Jasper, while amusing, looked like he was a girl that got electrocuted. Alice's appearance was very good, except her height, but that was all right. Rosalie had a drawn on mole on her face. Jacob's hair was horrible looking. They had to put a hat over it. Edward only had one single jacket for the entire movie.
Reason 4: Facial expressions. These were actually quite good, and we would go so far as to say they might even be the best part of the movie. Every time Jasper walked into the room, the theater would burst out in laughter. He had a pained expression on his face, which was very amusing, actually, even though it wasn't really like that in the book. Billy Black's face, and also Edward's, when they passed each other in the cars, were the best part of the movie. Edward's glares, while they were supposed to be intimidating and frightening, we funny and amusing. Billy Black's face was awesome. You had to be there.
There were, however, several things that really either creeped us out, or bothered us. Edward was too creepy. One line that was supposed to sound sweet, sounded stalker-ish. In fact, he sounded VERY stalker-ish for a majority of the movie. Also, in the ballet scene, he dropped her from the ceiling when he was supposedly saving her! And she fell into a mirror and practically killed her leg! Some parts were inappropriate for younger children in the theater, like the restaurant scene and some of Bella's conversations with her mother. Also, there was absolutely no snow, except digital in the flashback.
Overall, however, we enjoyed the movie despite its faults. But we think that they need to do better on the next one.