A lot of things were going on yesterday. Oprah was announcing the end of her daytime talk show. Sarah Palin was touring the country, promoting her new book and jabbing at Obama’s policies at every turn. Surely, Taylor Swift was walking around somewhere telling someone that she wasn’t dating Taylor Lautner.
But ask most any girl under the age of 16 (and their moms, for that matter) what November 20 meant to them, and they’d tell you one thing: "New Moon."
At midnight last night, girls were lining up at theaters all around the world to catch the first glimpse of the sequel. Would it include all the important parts from the book? they wondered. Will the special effects be cool? Will there be enough Edward?
In the interest of full disclosure, I’ll admit I was asking myself the same things as I walked into the theater. And in the end, I was not disappointed.
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner.
Seen at: Loews Boston Common
Rated: PG-13
Catherine Hardwicke’s "Twilight" was lacking in these ways: there was stilted dialogue, awkward special effects and some funny scenes that weren’t meant to be funny. Director Chris Weitz transitioned the cold, awkward world of "Twilight" into a warm, emotional and dynamic "New Moon."
Screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg seems to have taken a little more time with this script, as the banter between the characters feels natural. She leaves the "lion and the lamb" quotes in the book where they belong.
The movie touches on almost every important scene in the book, which will please die-hard (or Twi-hard) fans. The movie moves quickly, giving about 15 minutes to process every intense emotion that Stephenie Meyer spent 100 pages talking about, so it can feel a bit rushed. But when you realize that the movie is over two hours long, you re-think that assessment.
The only part of the film that was seriously lacking was the wolf pack. Only two of the four have any serious build, and if you’re going to spend half the movie walking around shirtless, you need to at least get rid of the muffin top. Not to mention the fact that the wolf transformations are by turns incredibly realistic and incredibly…not. The wolves sometimes look fierce and other times, look like cartoons, which is a big disappointment if you’ve seen "The Golden Compass." And there’s an unforgivable sequence where wolf pack leader Sam Uley jumps off of a cliff and you feel like you’re watching an animation from the "Tomb Raider" computer game you had as a kid.
Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner have incredible chemistry. Kristen plays the broken Bella very well, and Lautner exudes the warmth of his character. Plus, he’s not bad to look at either. In the end, your heart breaks when he begs her to stay, and the most loyal Edward fans wonder if maybe they wouldn’t choose Jacob instead.
But in the end, the movie brings you back to Edward and Bella, as it should. It ends on a well-deserved cliff-hanger, leaving the Twi-hards squealing until next June, when the third installment, "Eclipse," is scheduled for release.
LOVED NEW MOON BUYING TICKETS JUST TO SEE IT AGAIN ON SUNDAY!!!! NOW THATS A DIE HARD FAN AND I AM NOT 16 AND NO WHERE NEAR IT 🙂
i was so disappointed in new moon, i have waited a year, and was just let down. it was like cliffs notes to a book, the high points were hit, but that is all i can say. does the screenwriter not understand that without the small parts the big parts just arent as big, and what was up with all the changes? i dont mind the parts that they added with edward, its just that if they can add, why not add the parts that were actually in the book, things just seemed to have been cut so short. the parts that were in there were rearranged or just wrong according to the book.i guess i just really expected more, these movies makers must not realize that the reason the movies are a success in the first place is because of the books, stay true to them or you will loose fan base. people in fact are fans of the book, their job should be cake , it is already laid out for them. i just dont understand what the problem with sticking to the book is.
I really liked the movie, however i hated that they left out the whole “imprinting” stuff. This is so very important as all of us know b/c it comes out in Breaking Dawn. Bella and Jacob can never be b/c of imprinting. Not to mention her soul belongs to Edward. They also really skipped the part of him explaining why he left. In the book he does this very well. No wonder there are team Jacob b/c they made Edward look like a selfish jerk when he did it out of love.