Edward and Bella finally tie the knot this film around. And as we all know, what’s a wedding without a little drama? Throw in a vampire baby and that’s just pure excitement! Oh but wait, there’s more… 8 magical minutes more!
This series of films, not matter how epic they are, have definitely been made as successful as they are by the sheer power of Stephanie Meyer’s creative imagination and romantic aspirations. Although it pains me greatly to say it, this amazing saga had a pretty rough start as far as acting and producing went. I would definitely say the first couple of films were B movies at best. Thank goodness they improved drastically with the third film of the saga, Eclipse. Part 1 & 2 of Breaking Dawn are by far the best of the saga. Now, with that bit of horrible honesty out of the way, I can delve into my own sparkling rose colored perspective of Breaking Dawn the Extended Edition.
I was so excited when I first heard about the extended version. I had always known there was the possibility of one after listening to director Bill Condon’s audio commentary on the original blu-ray theatrical version, so I was incredibly pleased when it actually happened.
This film is the slower paced of the two Breaking Dawn films, but full of beauty and passion. It definitely has its own entertainment qualities with the wedding, honeymoon, and baby, but the real excitement lies with the threat of losing Bella and the Volturi’s wrath later on.
The opening scene of the extended version is not the one we are all familiar with (hint, hint.) Right off the bat we get to enjoy some of the extra footage. It was very nice to immediately get to jump into the goods. Often times with additional footage you are left wondering, was that new? I was immediately able to pick up on all the additions, as would any true Twihard. Then again the fact that I have seen the theatrical version a dozen times or so may play a small role in the ability to sniff out the new feed? Oh how exciting it all was! The true Twilight fan will love every second of it! If you’re not a fan, yet, then you might as well start with the extended version. Who wants to miss out on a single second of sparkling goodness?
The film is pretty spectacular visually. The colors used throughout the entire film were a very odd mixture of soft coolness and dramatic warmth. They did a very good job subtly emitting the correct emotional response for the story. The visual and auditory aspects of the film are absolutely high definition quality. The blu-ray disc is by far the way to go if you want the crisp life like picture.
The wedding scenes are probably the most beautiful I’ve even seen in a film. The Cullen’s house and surrounding wooded area is absolutely immaculate. Then again for over a million you would expect that. Yes, I did say over a million dollars! In the grand scheme of things what’s a million dollars after all? The domestic box office sales alone grossed $281.3 million. Okay, enough of the pop ups, back to the film. The Cullen house is actually different in every film. The first couple houses were real places, but this one was created and absolutely perfect! It set a very magical and dreamy scene for the wedding to take place. The landscapes alone added richness to the atmosphere of the film. So, the point of all my incessant jabbering about the location was, it was perfection.
The CG effects on Bella while pregnant are ridiculously creepy. Kristen Stewart was already a stick. Throw some crazy skeleton effect over her and you have one hot mess. The deterioration of her body was very dramatic. Yuck, that part of the film I could have definitely done without. The disturbing sound of a broken spinal cord will haunt me forever! Eww. That bit was blown a bit out of proportion to a certain extent, but probably needed for the effect of the film.
The bottom line is I LOVE the story and all the romantic drama that is Twilight! I truly feel as if this is an epic saga that will prove to be timeless with its passionate appeal for the love sick suckers out there. Yes, pun intended.