Apparently many Twilight fans are anxiously awaiting the scene in New Moon where Bella dives off a cliff. For those not familiar or if you forgot…Edward leaves Bella toward the beginning on the book. She is so depressed that she takes up extreme sports activities as she seems to “hear” his angry warnings when she puts her own life in danger. Wanting to hear him anyway she can…she starts taking risks. One of those risks was a cliff dive on Jacob’s reservation.

One fan made this video of how she thinks the movie scene might play out. Pretty darn good if I do say so myself.

Is the Twilight book saga appropriate for young girls and tweens? Parents might want to consider this before letting their kids jump onto to the Twilight bandwagon.

The movie Twilight is PG 13 and pretty innocent barring a few kisses with one party being in naught but panties. As a mother of 3 and HUGE Twilight fan I would stick to that age 13 and up guideline though.

The books though are a different ball of wax. The first book, Twilight is pretty innocent as is the second one New Moon. Yes they have some steamy kisses and passionate longing but nothing is acted out. Some parents might still want to be careful exposing kids younger than 13-14 to that type of reading. While the physical relationship in Twilight cannot progress because of the human/vampire conundrum I think that just makes it all the easier for young girls to think about how those barriers do NOT exist in real life.

The third book Eclipse has one of the characters Bella thinking about sex quite a bit, even going as far as trying to shimmy out of her clothes while she and Edward kiss. There is a lot of description about Edward’s rock hard body and perfect face as well. The book has no sex to speak of but there is much longing for sex.. not something I would be anxious for my young daughter to be thinking about. And I like Sonja Bolle’s description of Breaking Dawn:

In the fourth book, by contrast, the lovers have tons of sex. First, they marry, of course, and produce a fetching baby. But the fourth book answers the burning question about what vampires do with all their free time, since they don’t sleep. It turns out that married vampires have a lot of sex. They are immensely strong, so they end up destroying a lot of perfectly lovely beds, and much other furniture to boot. In fact, their lovemaking is so ferocious that one young married vampire couple teases the newlyweds that they can’t be truly crazy for each other, because they haven’t destroyed enough houses yet.

As an adult I thought the sex could have and should been a bit more graphic after that long wait and a little less silly (aka pillow biting). BUT if kids are reading this same book and estimates say 25 million of these books ARE being read by kids 10 and under… then I think they are not appropriate. Especially inappropriate would be scenes that Bolle did not mention where Bella emotionally blackmails Edward for sex. He does not want to her hurt her again after their initial foray and so she parades around in front of him in skimpy negligees and uses her body to entice him. The last book is very much an adult book in my opinion and in actuality the characters ARE adults by this time. Some of them always were (the vamps). These are young ADULT books…not preteen, teen books.

My daughter is still very young but I would try to keep this series away from her until she was at least 15-16. I see no reason to have her reading about this beautiful man/boy and how much Bella wants to have sex with him and how she uses her body to sway him from his decision to refrain. While it may have some good points, like no sex until marriage even that is portrayed all wrong because all it does is give a foolish reason for teenagers to want to get married… for the sex. I would rather my teen just have sex rather than get married just so they can have sex.

So… the recommendation of this thirty-something mom with 3 kids is that the Twilight movie is okay for kids 13 and up and the first two books are as well. BUT the second two books, IMO, should be put on hold until 15-16 years old and some parental discussions should occur while they are being read. Moms should be reading them too so they get a feel for what their daughter’s might be thinking about sex and relationships.

So what do you think? Is Twilight appropriate for young girls, say 13 and under? Why or why not?

Well, I have seen Twilight 4 times now. Yeah I really like it. Overall I think it is a REALLY good movie. Yes, the CGI is badly done, the script feels rushed, many fluff scenes could have been deleted to make more room for more dialogue between Edward and Bella, and some scenes had some seriously bad acting. BUT they had a low budget and climate and schedule issues. Kristen Stewart looked confused and in pain all too often…not in love. I usually like her acting too. Perhaps she tried too hard. Robert Pattinson over-acted many times with his looks of torture and inward pain but overall I was impressed with him.

The movie has several darn near perfect scenes were everything clicked and we saw the story for what it is…beautiful. Some of those scenes were in the meadow, the first kiss scene, the vampire baseball game, and the prom.

There were things added to the movie that were not in the booksbut I think they were complimentary…my only criticism was that we could have had more Bella and Edward had they stuck closer to the book storyline. Robert Pattinson was perfect as Edward..beautiful and soulful just like the character. Also a real musician just like the character. He actually plays Bella’s lullaby on the piano in the movie and he has two songs on the soundtrack.

The second time I watched the movie I was in a packed house with teens and preteens. There was a lot of giggling, screaming, oohing, and ahhing. It was hilarious and really made me long for those days myself. Without a doubt I would have been one of them…absolutely crazy in love with Edward/Robert.

I liked the casting for Edward, Bella, Jasper, Alice, Carlisle, Esme, Victoria, and James. I did not care so much for who was cast for Rosalie, Jacob, or Jessica.

I recommend you go see the movie and watch with an open mind. It really is a good film and I can’t wait for the movie sequel…coming out in 2010.

Ben Barnes has cast his hat in the ring for the Twilight movie sequel New Moon. Apparently he felt to old to play any of the “teen” characters but since New Moon will require MANY new cast members including the Italian vampires called the Volturi and of course Jacob Black’s werewolf pack, there is room for more mature talent. Ben is 27.

MTV News has confirmed that 27-year-old “Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” heartthrob Ben Barnes is throwing his hat into the ring. The actor is already quite popular with the “Twilight” fanbaseand shares the same manager as both Copon and “Twilight” star Cam Gigandet. Barnes is believed to be campaigning for the role of Aro, a mind-reading vampire whose “New Moon” encounter with Edward and Bella helps shape their destiny together.

I for one am THRILLED about this potential development. I am insanely in love with Ben Barnes and I might have to switch to Team Aro! If he is cast as Aro then we will also see him in the third movie, Eclipse and the 4th movie (if they make it, Breaking Dawn.

Sources: Ben Barnes Fan & MTV