New Moon, Review.

Well, I did it! I braved the masses of squealing fangirls (and boys) to enjoy a little over two hours of sparkly vampire goodness.

While I still think the overly "fabulous" vampire thing is completely out in left field, (really, they look like they are getting ready to go to a rave with all that glitter) I do still have to give Mrs. Meyers credit for a unique take on the vamp theme.

Okay, enough about my issues with the Twinkly er, I mean Twilight vampires. I promise not to bring it back up again until the next movie comes out.

I will not comment on any book-to-movie inconsistencies or any of the actual story and continuity issues. The books are all written, published, and wildly loved so I am not going to comment for or against them.

I will say this. With all Hollywood adaptations, things will be cut, things will be added, and things will be skewed. I understand that fitting in a huge tome of a novel into a 2hr movie is a daunting task and the people making the movie want both readers and non readers to enjoy it. Just remember this, don't go see this movie expecting it to be exactly like the book.

So, on to the actual movie.

First, some specific complaints... (Because it's always best to get those out of the way and finish on a positive note.)

1) The breakup scene. I really don't think they captured the depth of emotion they could have here. Where were the tears? Where was the desperation? It wasn't there. The actress needed to go deeper and really pull out the feeling of loss because it was meant to be a powerful emotional scene and I felt, it just fell short.

2) Jacob's wig. Seriously? I was so glad when he "cut" his hair. I love long hair on a guy but that wig was horrible.

3) Edwards' open shirt scene. Okay, after spending the entire 2 hours looking at Jacob's tan, muscular, and always on display physique, when Edward ripped open his shirt to reveal himself in all his sparkly goodness (whoops, I said I wasn't going to mention that again, didn't I?) to the people in Italy, I was just dissapointed.

Also, let me just ask. Was it really necessary to have Jacob half-naked through the whole movie? I'm all for eye candy but seriously people! I'm hard pressed to remember a scene where he has his shirt on. LoL.

4) The eyes. Now, I'm an eye person. That's the first thing I notice so I might be a little harsh where this is concerned. In the first movie the eyes were more subtle. Yes, you could see the amber in the good vamps and the red in the bad, but it wasn't so in-your-face. In this version. The eyes stood out so much, it was hard to focus on the faces. I think they could have toned that down just a bit.

5) The paper cut. Could they have been more obvious about it? Who cut's their finger in front of a bunch of vamps and holds it up for everyone to see? Really? Yes, I understand that just a drop of blood will cause them to go into a frenzy. Bella would be well aware of this, so why put it on display? They could have had her cut her finger and tried to hide it and got the same result. Vamps are still going to smell the blood. A visual of her holding her hand behind her back with the blood dripping to the floor would have worked too. Also, for that matter, if a single drop of blood is going to make them go insane, wouldn't they all just go nuts when Edward threw her into the wall? She sliced open her arm really good there.

Ok, I'll stop I am heading into tangent territory now.


Enough complaining. There were some things I thought they did well.

1) The passing of time with Bella's depression was wonderfully done. The 360 circle as the seasons changed was beautiful. It did exactly what it should have, it made the audience feel the utter sadness and withdraw the character was going through.

2) The CGI wolves were very nice looking. I loved how they showed their massive forms and the transitions from human to wolf did not feel jarring at all.

3) They fixed the supernatural speed issue. In the first movie, Edward seemed almost comical when he ran up the tree and through the woods with Bella. I think they must have had a better special effects budget because their movements were more in line with what we are accustom to seeing with supernatural creatures.

4) Seeing a visual representation of Edward, rather than his voice, excellent. This in particular was very well done. In the book it is just a voice, but seeing the character added so much more.

Well, enough of my nit picking for now. I'll finish with this last little blurb.

Given the fact that this was my least favorite of all of the Twilight novels, the movie was entertaining and set the stage for the next movie, which I will be seeing.

Just don't expect me to be one of the screaming fangirls running around asking which team you are on. I can't tell you how many times I was asked that. My answer was a simple, "I love vampires."

So tell me, what did you think of the movie?