With the Thanksgiving break starting this week, there were two movies for teens and younger audiences to enjoy during their time off. Lucky for everyone, they are both worth the price of admission.

“Twilight,” based on the book of the same name by Stephenie Meyer, is about a girl named Bella Swan moving to Forks, Wash. and falling in love with a nice vampire named Edward. The books in the series follow Bella and Edward’s courtship and the challenges they face. In addition to some nasty vampires in the area, Edward also worries that he may lose control around Bella and bite her, sucking her blood and yada, yada, yada.

I read the books and found them to be like junk food. I tore through the series in a matter of weeks, enjoyed them while I read them, and then moved on to other things. They are well-written and fun to read, but it was more like sitting down to an episode of “90210” than an episode of “Masterpiece Theatre.”

Still, I will admit that I did read them, cover to cover, and eagerly anticipated seeing what would happen to our heroes. I thought “Twilight,” was good, the second book, “New Moon,” was O.K., “Eclipse,” the third one was the best and “Breaking Dawn,” the final book was a bit of a disappointment. Movie-wise (this is after all, a movie review) “Twilight” stayed true to the book and the characters and was a much better adaptation than I thought it would be.

The casting was excellent with Kristin Stewart and Robert Pattinson leading the way with terrific performances as Bella and Edward. Pattinson, in particular, was everything he needed to be for such an iconic leading role. Director Catherine Hardwicke established a perfect look for Forks as winter turns to spring and she captured what the people who surround the couple would look like. Hardwicke has had no problem in her previous fillms (“Thirteen” and “Lords of Dogtown”) showing a gritty and sometimes all too real looking world. That sensibility boosted “Twilight” and made it come alive for the audience, especially those who have read the books. Forks is certainly not Los Angeles, but it did not look like it only existed on a Hollywood back lot either.

Speaking of the artifice of Hollywood, Disney’s “Bolt,” thrilled and entertained audiences with the story of a dog who thinks he is a superhero, even though he just plays one on t.v.

Bolt, like Truman in “The Truman Show,” is made to believe that he has super powers and must protect his owner Penny from shadowy looking bad guys. Things go awry when Bolt thinks Penny has been captured and he flees the set looking for her. Bolt ends up across the country from her and must find his way back. He enlists the help of Mittens, a cat Bolt believes to have knowledge of Penny’s whereabouts, and they are soon joined by Rhino, a couch potato hamster who just happens to be Bolt’s biggest fan.

“Bolt” is filled with great visuals, but what else would you expect from a collaboration between Disney and Pixar, and the story is engaging for audiences of any age. I know that the adults in the theater got more of the jokes than the kids, but everyone could get behind the terrific action sequences (especially if they viewed the film in 3-D) and the scene-stealing performance of Mark Walton, a Disney animator who did the voice of Rhino.

If you’re going to catch a flick as a family this week, there is no better movie in theaters right now than “Bolt.”

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