Sink your teeth into the latest movie

The first part of the finale to the Twilight series, long awaited "Breaking Dawn", came out Nov. 18. The Twilight producers pulled a Harry Potter and split the last movie into two parts, leaving the last part to be released in Nov. 2012.

Breaking Dawn continues the vampire romance story with the usual cast: main character Bella is played by Kristen Stewart, her vampire fiancée Edward is played by Robert Pattinson, and Bella's ex-boyfriend/werewolf Jacob is performed by Taylor Lautner. I'm happy to say that all three actors have improved in their performance since the awful soap-opera fiasco that was Twilight, but don't expect a stunning performance from anyone. Perhaps a mediocre script and awkward scenes limited the actors, but nevertheless the acting in the series has always been far from convincing. Yet reflecting on where this series has been, I'm glad to say it is improving.

When I first heard that Breaking Dawn was to be split into two parts, I couldn't understand why this book had to be stretched out into two movies. All that happens is Bella marriage and pregnancy, which ultimately leads to a conflict with the evil rulers of the vampire world, but really, the movie could quickly begin with the marriage, skip into the honeymoon and pregnancy, and we would be well on our way to getting out of the theater and never watching Twilight again. So it was confusing why the producers chose to drag out the series.

It is still a mystery why the decision was made, though I'm pretty sure it has to do with box-office revenue instead of complex plot development. Director Bill Condon managed to stretch out the already sluggish plot by paying unnecessary attention to tiny details, perhaps believing that the audience would relish watching Bella learn how to walk in high heels for her wedding, or enjoy listening as practically every character in the series gives a toast. Condon cleverly adds in the chess motif prevalent in the books, which would be ok if they had only done it once. Instead, Bella and Edward play chess and then Bella dreams about it and then later she thinks about and then…too much detail? Yeah. Tell that to the director.

While the plot was sluggish, Breaking Dawn did impress in other areas. Though overall the dialogue felt contrived, in comparison to the first installments of the series "Breaking Dawn" has more laughs and less awkward dialogue then its sister movies. But what you really come to see is the visuals. Though dialogue may be lukewarm and the acting not so great, at least everything looks pretty.

Until the birthing scene.

Just a fair warning: if you have any desire to ever have children, do NOT watch this part of the movie. Take a bathroom break, hide your eyes, I don't care. But if they showed this scene instead of those "Miracle of Life" videos in sex education classes, I think the teenage pregnancy rate would drop.

The scene begins with Bella falling to the ground, because the fetus breaks her back. From there the carnage truly begins, as the haggard Bella loses blood when Edward has to give her a C-section vampire style, using his teeth. The gross factor is heightened when Edward pulls out some handy needles filled with vampire venom, injecting these into his wife in an attempt to save her as she dies from the birth. It goes on and on with sound effects, so you may also want to plug your ears.

Grossness aside, Breaking Dawn did have some cool scenes, especially when the Cullens fight with the nearby werewolf clan. But the CGI for the wolves was as disappointing as it was in the second movie, and in one all-werewolf scene, the CGI is simply laughable.

Not to its credit, the music score was simply obnoxious. While the script and acting has improved over the Twilight movies, the music has gotten worse and worse. The music would play as the characters spoke, leading the audience to listen to the music instead of the dialogue. Maybe this was a clever play to distract from corny lines, but mostly it was just annoying.

Overall, this is the kind of movie that if you have seen the last three, you may as well go ahead and complete the set. But if you aren't into vampires in the first place you should go watch something else. For reluctant fans that loved the books but hated the movies, you may as well watch it once so you can say that you did. There are some good scenes and a few laughs to reward you. Otherwise, the best thing you can do is plug your ears and watch the pretty vampires.