'Breaking Dawn: Part 1' manages to improve upon 'Twilight' franchise

Twilight fans scare me.

Well, let me rephrase. "Twi-hard" fans scare me. If you like the Twilight books and movies, that's fine. I will admit that I have, in fact, read the Twilight series, and have seen all of the movies. Hence why I was elected to review "Breaking Dawn". But if I show up to the movie theater and you're wearing a Breaking Dawn shirt, holding a Breaking Dawn cup, are carrying the book in your hand while screaming to your other friends, and are over the age of fifteen, I will judge you. And I will judge you hard.

I was a little reluctant to see "Breaking Dawn". Screaming teenage (and older) girls, pasty sparkling vampires, and a lead actress who could be overacted by a corpse are a few things that don't exactly thrill me.

However, I was dragged by my mother – a Twilight fan teetering on the fence of Twihard – to see it, and was thoroughly surprised. Bella (Kristen Stewart) and Edward (Robert Pattinson) actually smiled - at least a little bit - and Jacob (Taylor Lautner) even cried.

I was pretty impressed by how well it stuck to the book, and the scenes with new locations (such as Isle Esme) were how I imagined them for the most part.

Stewart's acting still bothers me to my core, however. Her face and her words never seem to match up. For example, the day that she got married, the supposed ‘happiest day of her life,' she looked like she was going to vomit the entire time. Now I understand you might have some pre-wedding jitters, but even as she was walking down the aisle I was expecting her to vomit all over her shoes.  And the first time she and Edward consummated their marriage she told Edward that she was ‘the happiest she had ever been in her whole life' without even the slightest smile on her face. I encourage her to quit acting and take up a career in poker - she would make a killing with that face.

For parents that are deciding whether or not they should let their teenagers - or younger - go to this movie, I advise against it. Unless you want to encourage them to never have sex - then by all means, go for it. If you read the book, you know that Bella gets impregnated with a ravenous baby - or leech, which literally sucks the life out of her - that results in the most horrific birth scene I have ever seen in any movie. Guys, if your girl is getting that baby fever and you aren't interested, take them to this movie. I promise they'll change their minds - at least for a year or two.

I also find it highly ironic that they stress the fact that Bella and Edward abstain from sex until marriage, yet after they have sex the first time and Bella is covered in bruises from Edward's super human lust, she just waves it off. Apparently, having sex before marriage is not okay, but abusive sex AFTER marriage is okay.

I thought there were several cheesy parts in the movie, which wasn't surprising seeing as it was about a human girl – who is best friends with a werewolf - and a sparkly vampire who have a mutant baby together.

I give Breaking Dawn Part 1 an overall rating of B - simply because it surpasses all of the previous movies and it stuck to the book rather well.