Sparkling Vampires, CGI Wolves, and Romantic Cheese

The Twilight Saga: New Moon

Directed By: Chris Weitz

Starring: Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner, Robert Pattinson

Rated: PG-13

2 hrs. 10 min.

Stephenie Meyer's Twilight Saga continues with the second installment, New Moon. It's Bella's birthday, and she's a little upset that she's now, God forbid, one year older than the eternally-seventeen Edward Cullen. After an incident with Edward's brother Jasper Hale at her birthday party, Edward is convinced the safest thing for Bella is if the Cullens left town. After his departure, Bella remains in a state of depression, and the only person able to take her out of it is her sunny Quileute friend Jacob. However, Jacob Black has a secret of his own. And now, with a pack of wolves in the forests of Forks, there's more danger lurking. But are the wolves the real danger? And when Edward is mistaken about Bella's fate, what does he do in response?

It's no surprise that the first installment of this series, Twilight, was a huge success, despite the fact that, in all honesty, it was terrible. The acting lacked, the cinematography was amateur and just as cheesy as the dialogue. Of course, the cheesiness is part of the teen romance formula. New Moon is certainly a great improvement. The direction of Chris Weitz is exponentially better than Catherine Hardwicke's. The boring blue tint is gone, replaced with a warm brown tint. The acting has improved, albeit only slightly in the case of franchise stars Kristen Stewart (Bella) and Robert Pattinson (Edward). Taylor Lautner holds his own surprisingly well as Jacob Black, even having to be shirtless for the majority of the film. The actors playing the roles of The Volturi were creepy yet quirky.

The writing is another improvement. There are less lines that make you cringe, but being based on the book, it still has its fair amount of cheese. The special effects are also slightly improved. The sparkling effect imposed on the vampires when they step into sunlight was re-imagined, and even in the flashbacks to the first movie one can see that in post-production the sparkling was tweeked. The CGI wolves were a little lack-luster; the animators could probably have spent a little more time making finer adjustments to the fur and the movements of the wolves, but they were satisfactory.

Overall, New Moon is a great improvement over Twilight. One can only hope the third installment, Eclipse, out June 2010, surpasses it.

Grade: C+