Review New Moon (movie)

Three of us went together last night to the local premiere of New Moon. We got there about 9:15, and there was already a line forming. A couple had been the first at about 5:30. We had picked up our tickets about a week ago.

The scoop was that another local theater was sold out, so the couple behind us had driven to this theater and got 2 of the last 50 tickets, which were gone before the show started. (There were 10 theaters showing it at midnight just where we were.)

We were let in, in the order of how we had lined up, according to the theater we had tickets for.

CGI
We already knew the special effects would be better than the first movie because we had seen quite a bit in the advertising. It was. One scene looked improbable, but then the story is too, so nobody cared.

The books or the movies?
In many ways I think the story translates better to movies than it was in the books.

Team Jacob or Team Edward?
Jacob is hot, oh yeah, those extra pounds went all to muscle and look better on his face too. Can you spell B-U-F-F? He really did well in this movie, considering the fan base leans heavily toward Edward. Edward is Edward. He is about as mopey as Bella. When he has good lines, he's better than when he doesn't.

Bella
Well, she mopes a lot, as she does in the book. The movie shows how long this goes on, as well as how her nightmares affect her and her father. She never crosses a line from friendship with Jacob, but it is easy to see how he would read her signals differently. Stupid girl, to court disaster on more than one front.

The friends
I love the friend dynamic, as always. Jessica is great, wish she had more scenes.

The Cullen Family
It's good to see our old friends again. Even in short vignettes, they forward the story. Dr. Carlisle ...Esme...Emmet, love him -- he's a hunk that manages to wrest a lot out of a few words. Jason, he has a major scene. Alice, I'd like to see even more of her. I liked her hair better spiky. I think they were trying to give her a more mature look.

Victoria
The vamp you love to hate. Beautiful hair! Deathly evil. Very fast.

Laurent
He is a scene stealer. Great casting!

The werewolves
They managed to get the dynamics down pat. Great CGI. Some great scenes with Jacob.
Leader of the pack

The Volturi
Well done. Beautifully filmed. Dakota Fanning as Jane, is eerily, beautifully a Volturi vamp.

The verdict
The end is strong and abrupt. Most were: what!?! knowing, of course, that we are ready for the next one.

Many of the people said they were coming back this weekend to see it again to catch the things they were sure they missed on the first showing.

Is some of the acting wooden? Yes. Does it matter? Not particularly.

Are some of the lines laughable? Yes. But who cares and who's counting?

In the end, these are people (and vamps and werewolves) we care about. We root for the good guys/vamps/werewolves. We want to see love succeed. We want to see evil excised.

Is the whole thing camp?
Oh yeah, but it's a camp you love to love. It's probably a 2* but I'd give it a 2.5* or 3* because, you know, like, for what it is, it simply is.

I'd see it again. We got home about 3 am.

Karin
www.savvythinker.com

Originally posted 2009-11-20 17:40:29.

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