Movie Review: New Moon

* Spoiler Alert *

Chiming in way late here, but I will say this movie was a big improvement on the first one. What Twilight, the movie, lacked, New Moon made up in spades. The dialogue and acting were better (though not perfect), and I remember liking Jacob in the first movie, of all the characters. He's in this one a lot more, so yay on that. Taylor Lautner, you rock. Can't wait to see what you do next in your career.

I expected a fun distraction with some good special effects, and I got that. You don't notice much heavy special effects use until about halfway into the movie (and if you read the book, you know why). I wasn't wild about New Moon, the book, as much as Twilight, the book, but I definitely like New Moon, the movie, better than Twilight, the movie. (That, and it reinforces why I am now Team Jacob. He's so much more fun as a character.)

The Spoiler Section: For those of you who have read the book, you will recall that Edward overhears that Bella's dad is attending a funeral, and he mistakes it for Bella's funeral. Without checking the facts (one of the ignoring-logic-in-favor-of-drama instances where I get annoyed with the Twilight universe), Edward decides he's going to commit suicide by provoking a much older clan of vampires into killing him. People who haven't read the book might get confused at first by this, because it happens so fast and after a simple phone call. They do explain it, but not until after you've already said to yourself, Eh??? A classic case of why misunderstandings aren't true conflict in fiction, and shouldn't be forced to become so.

After that, the slow burn of everything that happened before, including Bella and Jacob's there-but-not-there relationship, pretty much goes Fttt!, and it's all action. Jacob, sadly, gets tossed aside once Bella gets a sniff of Edward's continued existence. I hated the way she dismissed Jacob once Edward was back in the picture, in movie and book, after all he had done for her. (Insert unfriendly insult to Mean Jacob-Dumping Bella. How could you? WHY would you? You did see Jacob, right? He SMILES, and everything!) I will admit to being in Edward's camp at the beginning of this book, but I warmed up to Jacob and was really pissed when she dumped him for Edward. Even though I knew that was the way the book was headed. Sigh.

The movie is good, all in all. So go, expecting much improvement upon the first film. There's some nice scenery, and a couple cool songs on the soundtrack, though not as many as the first movie's soundtrack. I dare you not to be Team Jacob after this film. :)