"Twilight" fans can exhale now.

Director Catherine Hardwicke's movie is one of the most faithful adaptations of a book ever made, although she let the crew go a little overboard with the white facial makeup. When vampire Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) first appears, striding through the high school cafeteria doors and into the life of transfer student Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart), he looks both out of this world and otherworldly. As in alien.

His pale face does make his cranberry lips and dark eyebrows pop, and gasps -- of recognition, excitement or pure pleasure -- could be heard at a preview this week. By the time "Twilight" ends, Hardwicke has both set up the inevitable sequel and drenched the audience in romantic images.

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'Twilight'

3 stars = Good
Ratings explained

• Starring: Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart
• Rating: PG-13 for some violence and a scene of sensuality
• Web site: 'Twilight'

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As most teens know, "Twilight" is based on the first book of a wildly successful series by Stephenie Meyer about a couple who normally would be predator and prey instead of possible prom dates. Edward has been a vampire since 1918, although he looks like the rest of the 17-year-olds in rainy, foggy Forks, Wash., where Bella has come to live with her divorced dad.

The students seem to get off on the wrong foot -- Edward literally holds his nose when the Phoenix transplant joins his biology class -- but before you can say bloodthirsty or cold-skinned immortal, he saves her life. For the first time.

"Twilight" takes the touchstones of typical teen romances, such as trying to keep passion under control, meeting your date's parents and even suffering the disapproval of siblings, friends or elders, and cranks up the tension by putting Bella's life in grave danger. Even Romeo and Juliet had more in common than this unorthodox couple.

Writer Melissa Rosenberg has added a couple of scenes that set the stage for some malevolent interlopers, condensed interaction with Bella's classmates and invented a school outing that doesn't exist in the book.

"Twilight" takes itself and its universe very seriously, although not so much that Stewart wears the exact outfit described in the book upon meeting the Cullens at their home -- also not a match to the text, at least on the outside.

Each of the 17 million buyers of the books (all four in the series) had a different idea of what Edward and Bella should or would look like. As someone who just finished "Twilight" and hasn't graduated to the sequels, the biggest miss for me is Dr. Carlisle Cullen, Edward's adopted father whose youth and ghostly pallor are distracting.

In addition to doing an excellent American accent, Pattinson gives Edward sex appeal and maturity, which is only right considering that he has been alive for more than a century. Stewart is all seriousness -- almost too much so -- and the movie thirsts for some humor.

Although the special effects vary widely in quality, the Olympic Peninsula of northwest Washington looks fresh and eerie and "Twilight" fans can rest assured that the franchise is off to a respectful start.