'New Moon' Movie Review

The good? The acting's better in New Moon than it was in Twilight. It's easy to tell the leads and the returning supporting players have grown more comfortable in their characters' skin. Michael Sheen, of course, steals any scene he's in, Anna Kendrick is the best of the young group as the snotty, fake friend of Bella's, and Taylor Lautner handles the lead far better than you'd expect. Robert Pattinson doesn't have much to do other than look brooding - and he does that well - so it's up to Lautner to carry the romantic male lead. And Pattinson fans may take offense to this, but I believe the onscreen chemistry is better between Kristen Stewart and Lautner than it is between Stewart and Pattinson. There's a light in her eyes in her one-on-one scenes with Lautner that wasn't there in Twilight. Then again, it could be what director Weitz got out of Stewart this time that Catherine Hardwicke didn't manage to do in Twilight. Stewart doesn't play with her hair in New Moon, which annoyed me to no end in Twilight, and overall her performance is an improvement from the first film. It's still a downer, but Bella's going through a lot in this one so Stewart's near-constant frown is at least justified this time.

Also better this time around are the make-up jobs done on the Cullen family. The vampires don't look as pasty and peculiar in New Moon as they did in Twilight, although I wish someone had chosen a different wig for poor Jackson Rathbone as Jasper. It's just too ridiculous. And the fight scenes are shot better and feel more threatening and real in New Moon as compared to the big fight scene between Edward and James in Twilight.

New Moon's not going to win any awards other than those voted on by fans, but that's not the point of the movie anyway. Will it satisfy the legion of Twilight fans who love these vegetarian vampires, the Indians who turn into wolves to protect their people, and the shy high school student who's a supernatural creature magnet? Yes, for the most part. But, and I found this quite telling, I watched New Moon twice before writing this review - once with just members of the media for the press junket and once with Twilight fans at a preview screening. The Twilight fans reacted much the way the press did, laughing at dramatic scenes that were unintentionally funny and at the first appearances of the CGI wolves. Hardly any of the Twilight fans clapped at the end and I overheard more than one person expressing their dislike for the way the story wrapped up.

That said, if you liked Twilight, you'll probably be happy with New Moon. On the other hand, if you weren't into Twilight, New Moon's not going to sell you on the franchise. Readers of the books and followers of the first Twilight movie know exactly what they're in store for with New Moon, and Weitz and writer Rosenberg do a fairly good job of satisfying those expectations. It retains the spirit of Meyer's second book and provides eye candy galore. It's just too bad the story itself isn't all that interesting.

GRADE: C+

The Twilight Saga: New Moon was directed by Chris Weitz and is rated PG-13 for some violence and action.

Theatrical Release Date: November 20, 2009

_{Disclosure: This review is based on a press screening provided by Summit Entertainment. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.}