DVD: "Twilight" book or movie?

There was some mild hesitation in either reading or watching new-to-DVD Twilight. I mean, if you couldn't tell by my writing, I'm neither female nor a tween. I compromised by listening to the audio book before watching the film, and I'd already had a taste of Meyer's writing style from her new book The Host.

Instead of offering a conventional review, however, I'll tackle this one from the angle of how the movie stacked up to the book, which is much fairer. After all, it's not as if someone who refused to read the book would suddenly find the movie fascinating, and yet people who've read the book are likely curious about the film if they haven't watched it already.

What is - in my mind - one of the most important factors for a novel-turned-movie is pace: does the film progress as the same rate as the book? In Twilight, I would have to say Yes. Sure, the very lengthy introduction of characters from the book certainly plays on much longer than in the movie, but it builds similarly. That and no one save for the aforementioned tweens would want to see the first three hours of a movie being little more than a roll call of the main players as it is in the book.

Next, and equally important, is how the characters are portrayed. You wouldn't want to see a favorite character of yours from the novel suddenly acting out-of-character: a reserved hero being cocky or a sexy temptress acting coy and insecure. In this way, the film had several characters spot on, to include the big ones: Bella, Edward, and a very well played Charlie Swan (Bella's father). There were a few off-kilter, such as oddly-nervous Jasper, who - in the book - is graced with extreme charisma and grace.

Finally, how well does it follow the story line. Again, seeing a scene take place that is nowhere in the book or - worse - is a deal-breaker for sequels (such as when Eragon easily dispatches the Ra'zac in the film interpretation of the book, despite the Ra'zac's key role in the book sequels).

In this capacity, Twilight the film does quite a good job, seeing as how certain scenes such as the final battle are off-screen in the book - a real no-no in film, of course. In other words, I thought that the additions in the film added pieces that Meyer seemed to glaze over in either a display of reserved writing or an attempt to keep what is largely a romance novel away from too much action.

So despite some more tepid reviews, and the inevitable laments of tweens who thought the two hour film should have been five hours, I would have to say that the movie does an excellent job of representing the book. That said, if you like the book, you will likely enjoy the film and vice versa.

A cool IMDb score of 6.1 is likely due more to that fact that tweens don't vote on the site and largely male, 18-35 years old do. And who among that demographic would admit to liking it? Um...besides me, I guess.