If "Breaking Dawn -- Part 1" is any indication, there was no need to split the final "Twilight" episode into two films. There's a lot of inactivity here, with pregnant Bella (Kristen Stewart) immobilized while Edward (Robert Pattinson) and Jacob (Taylor Lautner) sit around waiting for Jacob's lupine brethren to attack. That's the middle section of the movie, though. The wedding and honeymoon sequences at the beginning are charming in a teen soap opera sort of way, and the bat-poop-crazy finale is shocking -- the first hint of actual horror that the franchise has seen. Director Bill Condon ("Gods and Monsters," "Dreamgirls") does the best job so far of making the insane mix of fantasy and melodrama feel natural, but he's hindered by his wooden actors and the artificially lengthened story. Still, I'm curious to find out what happens next, if only to see if it's as bafflingly weird as "Part 1" suggests.

Grade: B-

Rated PG-13, some fairly tame sexuality and partial nudity, disturbing images and freaky stuff

1 hr., 57 min.

Tweet