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'The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1' DVD and Blu-Ray Review

The Plot

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The Twilight Saga Breaking Dawn Part 1 DVD Review

'The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1' on DVD

© Summit Entertainment
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 has a little bit of everything going on. There's the much-anticipated wedding (with the lengthy reveal of the wedding dress), the honeymoon in which feathers fly and virgins are deflowered, the subsequent excelerated pregnancy, and finally the delivery of Bella and Edward's baby and the transformation of human bride to vampire. In between all that, Breaking Dawn has time to squeeze in multiple stand-offs between the vegetarian vampires and the hunky Native Americans who transform into wolves, as well as show us how Bella's baby leaves her an emaciated wreck on the verge of death before cracking all of her bones on the way to being born.

Much takes place in this next-to-last Twilight film, but the problem is that despite the massive amount of material that needs to be shown on screen in order to keep Twihards happy, the film itself is...yes...a little boring.

The Blu-ray and 2-Disc DVD Release

As with the other Twilight home video releases, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 heads to stores with lots of fanfare - and many midnight release parties. Released in theaters on November 18, 2011, Breaking Dawn on Blu-ray and DVD arrives on February 11, 2012.

The Bonus Features

Where are the deleted scenes, alternate takes, and extended cuts? They're not on the 2-Disc DVD or on the Blu-ray, and that's a shame as most DVDs come with a wide variety of such content which makes Breaking Dawn's DVD release seem a little lacking in extra material. The bonus features also do not include a commentary track with any of the cast, however director Bill Condon does tackle the commentary duty solo and provides a few interesting behind-the-scenes bits of trivia that make listening in almost worthwhile. Almost.

The DVD and Blu-ray releases also contain a six-part, hour and a half 'Making of' documentary that explores different aspects of the film. The documentary takes us behind the scenes of the wedding, explaining how the dress was designed and then kept a secret, and reveals the special guests who were invited to be included as wedding guests for that highly anticipated scene. We're also given an in-depth look at how Bill Condon and the special effects team were able to take the already skinny Kristen Stewart and make her look as though she was nothing but skin and bones. The documentary, which is the best extra content on the DVD/Blu-ray, also includes details on the wolves, the honeymoon, and the birth scene.

Additional bonus features include "Jacob's Destiny" which looks at the growth and maturity of Taylor Lautner's character. Edward (Robert Pattinson) and Bella's Wedding Video is a goofy 10 minute featurette that has the cast in character wishing the newlyweds well as part of a video diary of the wedding day.

The Bottom Line

The film transitions from the big to small screen retaining its crisp colors, and the audio quality is first-rate (of course it's better on the Blu-ray). And while the extra features aren't as fleshed out as we'd hoped they'd be at this point in the Twilight franchise, that's likely due to the fact Summit's saving up some of the best features for the final DVD and Blu-ray definitive collection which is sure to come following Breaking Dawn Part 2's release in theaters. But it's unlikely that anything will keep Twihards away from picking this fourth Twilight film up on DVD or Blu-ray now. Because even if there is a boxed set coming later, it's still a year or more away from being released - and what diehard fan could possibly wait that long for their Bella and Edward fix?

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