Director: Jason Brown
Producer: York Baur, Jason Brown
MPAA Rating: G
Running time: 83 min.

(3.5/5)

The release of a Twilight DVD, especially this close to the holidays, is a perfect opportunity to give fans more of what they love. With New Moon, we saw the release of Twilight in Forks: Saga of the Real Town, which I never got around to seeing. With Eclipse (review), we see yet another offering: Destination Forks.

Divided into a number of sections, Jason Brown’s documentary starts with a mini-tour of Forks, Washington, the little town which saw itself shot into the limelight when Stephenie Meyer’s best selling series (and films), set in Forks, entered the world of fandom. The town, once a hub for timber and still a popular destination for sports fishing, was in decline until fans started pouring in, wanting to get a glimpse of the locations that filled Meyer’s pages.

Brown’s film starts at the epicentre with a tour of the town’s now infamous locales and interviews with the people that own them. We get a glimpse of the Swan residence, the Cullen house and the ever popular shopping destination Dazzled by Twilight. We meet the proprietors and get their take on the people that visit the area, teen girls and their parents, grandmothers and their granddaughters and families who flock to Washington in the summer months all looking to live a little piece of their fantasy.

Along the way, Brown introduces us to the fans and quickly moves along the storyline to cover the fandom itself. Talking to fans, he delves into the world of the people that love the series, trying to get at the core of what makes Twilight so attractive and the answers are as varied as the fans.

Though this idea of bringing Forks to the masses isn’t new, Brown’s film sets itself apart by featuring some gorgeous cinematography of the area. The talk of Forks and the phenomenon that is Twilight stops at the hour mark and the final 20 minutes of the film is simply gorgeous cinematography of the area around Forks set to music. It feels like the kind of thing you’d see as time filler between shows on National Geographic but it’s a soothing homage to the region and more of a selling point for a visit than anything that precedes it.

Not exactly a must have but I really enjoyed Destination Forks and it’s definitely a great addition to any Twilight fan’s collection. The final chapter on this DVD is likely to become a regular in my DVD player for those moments when you just want to relax.

Destination Forks is available on DVD from EOne in Canada and Summit Entertainment in the US on December 4th.

DVD Extras: None.