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Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1

Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 (2011)

tomatometer

26

Average Rating: 4.4/10
Reviews Counted: 187
Fresh: 48 | Rotten: 139

Slow, joyless, and loaded with unintentionally humorous moments, Breaking Dawn Part 1 may satisfy the Twilight faithful, but it's strictly for fans of the franchise.

27

Average Rating: 4.9/10
Critic Reviews: 37
Fresh: 10 | Rotten: 27

Slow, joyless, and loaded with unintentionally humorous moments, Breaking Dawn Part 1 may satisfy the Twilight faithful, but it's strictly for fans of the franchise.

audience

63

liked it
Average Rating: 3.6/5
User Ratings: 128,435

My Rating

Movie Info

In The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1, Bella (Kristen Stewart) and Edward (Robert Pattinson), plus those they love, must deal with the chain of consequences brought on by a marriage, honeymoon, and the tumultuous birth of a child...which brings an unforeseen and shocking development for Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner). -- (C) Summit Entertainment

Feb 11, 2012

$281.3M

Summit Entertainment

Cast

All Critics (189) | Top Critics (37) | Fresh (48) | Rotten (140) | DVD (3)

This penultimate "Twilight" film is the best in the series so far. It's languorous, romantic, moody, and, in the end, horrifying.

December 5, 2011 Full Review Source: New Yorker | Comments (40)
New Yorker
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The last twenty minutes of Breaking Dawn are so harrowing that it's possible to forget that most of the acting is soap-operatic (the guy who plays Carlisle is aging to look like Liberace) and the dialogue from hunger.

November 20, 2011 Full Review Source: New York Magazine | Comments (15)
New York Magazine
Top Critic IconTop Critic

It all goes wrong just when it should go right.

November 18, 2011 Full Review Source: New York Post | Comments (83)
New York Post
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Melodrama reigns in this supernatural soap opera, even though author Stephanie Meyer's tale takes a decided turn toward the weird and violent.

November 18, 2011 Full Review Source: Toronto Star | Comment
Toronto Star
Top Critic IconTop Critic

This is a well-made film, though sometimes unintentionally funny.

November 18, 2011 Full Review Source: Richard Roeper.com | Comments (26)
Richard Roeper.com
Top Critic IconTop Critic

There are a few reasons The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn -- Part 1 is probably the best of the Twilight films.

November 18, 2011 Full Review Source: Detroit News | Comments (63)
Detroit News
Top Critic IconTop Critic

As a movie, this isn't terrible; none of them have been, really. Each film has gotten a director who has tried to do something simple and honest with Meyer's tormented material.

April 30, 2012 Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | Comment
eFilmCritic.com

Entertainingly bad. In fact, it's the funniest movie we've seen this year even though it isn't a comedy (we think).

March 5, 2012 Full Review Source: Sci-Fi Movie Page | Comment (1)

If I can say anything for the film, it's that it delivers exactly what the legions of Twi-hards want and expect--or what 'Team Edward' wants, anyway.

January 11, 2012 Full Review Source: TheMovieReport.com | Comment
TheMovieReport.com

Terribly broken.

December 9, 2011 Full Review Source: Cinemaclips.com | Comment

Bill Condon gives the series' fans what they have shown they want: uneven storytelling, maudlin dialog and decidedly one-note performances.

December 9, 2011 Full Review Source: Times-Picayune | Comment
Times-Picayune

Bella makes her way toward "the kingdom where nobody dies" by being rather ingeniously resilient, completely predictable and frustrating, punished and punishing. She's 18, again and still.

December 7, 2011 Full Review Source: PopMatters | Comment
PopMatters

Whatever momentum the third film had in this series, it's gone. Once again, it's an average soap opera.

December 5, 2011 Full Review Source: The Scorecard Review | Comment
The Scorecard Review

Twilight series nears the end

December 1, 2011 Full Review Source: Movie Habit | Comments (4)
Movie Habit

For a movie about life-sucking vampires and flesh-ripping werewolves, there sure is an inordinate focus on the birds and the bees.

December 1, 2011 Full Review Source: American Profile | Comments (3)

This slow-moving film has long periods of inaction and generates little suspense, making it the worst film in the "Twilight Saga" films so far.

November 29, 2011 Full Review Source: Laramie Movie Scope | Comments (4)
Laramie Movie Scope

Director Bill Condon, prostituting himself, flirts with teen porn ...

November 28, 2011 Full Review Source: Sacramento News & Review | Comments (8)
Sacramento News & Review

At least Jacob seems to understand the contradiction inherent in the insistence that coldblooded undeath is just another lifestyle choice.

November 28, 2011 Full Review Source: Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) | Comment
Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)

How else to explain a wedding gown designed by Carolina Herrera in a town where the average gown is designed by Cooter and Otis Herrera.

November 28, 2011 Full Review Source: MovieJuice! | Comments (3)
MovieJuice!

drags along too slowly to give it much impact and instead engenders little more than impatience

November 27, 2011 Full Review Source: Q Network Film Desk | Comments (5)
Q Network Film Desk

Dawnfinally gives viewers something to sink their teeth into.

November 26, 2011 Full Review Source: Illinois Times | Comments (7)
Illinois Times

Screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg continues her long tradition of scripting staggeringly banal, subtext-free dialogue and grasping at the profundity of her betters by quoting poetry in the prologues.

November 26, 2011 Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | Comments (2)
Austin Chronicle
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1

Going for the Harry Potter ending effect, and failing badly, the film consists of some strange scenes and absurdly awful script, the director is better off finishing now while he still has an ounce of dignity, while the actors have no idea what they are doing and clearly haven't spent time on this kiddie project very

October 27, 2011
scottgreen96

Super Reviewer

Forget the fact that THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN - PART 1 (wow, that's a long title) finally makes the whole "vampire romance" genre look as dumb as it sounds. The thing that truly makes this a bad film is that it starts off as a sappy romantic drama, and it takes over half the film to evolve back into a

June 14, 2011
spielberg00
Alexander Diminiano

Super Reviewer

    1. Jessica Stanley: Do you think Bella will be showing yet?
    2. Angela Weber: Jess, she's not pregnant!
    3. Jessica Stanley: Why else do girls get married?
    – Submitted by Torie R (13 days ago)
    1. Edward Cullen: Jacob imprinted. They can't hurt her. Whoever a wolf imprints on cant be harmed. It's their most absolute law.
    – Submitted by Caitlin H (27 days ago)
    1. Jacob Black: If you kill her, you kill me.
    – Submitted by Talitha E (37 days ago)
    1. Edward Cullen: It's an extraordinary thing to meet someone who you can bare your soul to and accept you for what you are. I've been waiting, for what seems like a very long time, to get beyond what I am. With Bella I feel like I can finally begin. So I'd like to propose a toast to my beautiful bride. No measure of time with you will be long enough. But let's start with forever.
    – Submitted by Chloe B (51 days ago)
    1. Carlisle: Listen to her heart.
    – Submitted by Kellie E (56 days ago)

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Foreign Titles

  • Breaking Dawn - Bis(s) zum Ende der Nacht Teil 1 (DE)
  • The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 (UK)
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