The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2 Disc Special Edition) [DVD] [2009]

This film has divided fans, I think, as to whether they preferred Twilight, directed by Catherine Hardwicke, or prefer Chris Weitz on board as a new director. Personally, I think Twilight was better and wished they had kept the same director.

There are lots of things to enjoy in this movie. Kristen Stewart is on top form and is growing into a fine actress; Taylor surprised me as a very good Jacob; and Pattinson, of course, is as gorgeous and charismatic as ever (except for his clothes, perhaps - he is dressed like a fusty college prof at times, so I am convinced whoever designed his wardrobe was on Team Jacob! I much preferred his black T-shirts and James Deans jeans in Twilight). Also, if you are fan of the books you will be pleased as it is more loyal to the book 'New Moon' on a scene by scene basis. The soundtrack is good and there are some great scenes, such as the magical underwater scene, and the action scenes in Italy at the end.

However, I think Hardwicke did a better job at capturing the aching, love-lust crazed nature of Bella & Edward's love affair. I disagree with reviewers who say Bella is selfish or pathetic for moping about after Edward goes - the whole point of their love is that, like a modern day Romeo and Juliet, it's all-consuming and they can't live without each other. I liked the intense idealism of their love for each other and I feel it's the breathing heart of the books. That said, in Twilight, every scene between Bella/Edward was so mesmerising - the music and direction and camera angles all sought to squeeze out every drop of the sizzling magic between them. I don't think I've ever seen such amazing on-screen chemistry and I didn't feel the scenes in this film were as strong. I know Edward has a smaller role but some of the love scenes in New Moon (the novel) are the strongest in the series. The scenes at the end where Edward explains his love/reason for leaving seemed very rushed compared to the moving and rather beautiful scenes in the book. Other scenes also felt slightly rushed eg when Edward is walking Bella down the school corridor and tells her she's everything to him - such big, important lines, which almost seemed thrown away; Hardwicke would have had them standing still, with her classic, gorgeous close-ups of their faces, and she would have made those lines really resonate. I do wish they'd also kept in Bella's Lullaby and that exquisite score from Twilight, which I liked so much I bought on CD. I did find the classical music score a little cheesy in places, especially when Bella/Edward are reunited.

The new director previously directed American Pie and I think he's good at high school comedy as some of the best scenes were the comic ones - the night where Bella goes to see a movie is deliciously funny. However, he didn't seem, to me, to be a great director for a sweeping love story.

If you're on Team Jacob, however, you will adore this movie. The friendship between them gets massive screen-time and there is a great chemistry between Taylor/Kristen.

I personally feel that capturing a book on screen isn't just about being 100% loyal to it - it's about capturing the spirit, the mood, the feel of it. I preferred the feel and intensity of Twilight and this film wasn't totally there for me. I'd like to see Hardwicke come back on board for Breaking Dawn.

I saw this film last week. I've read all of the Twilight Saga so was looking forward to the film of New Moon. On the whole, it was fairly good but I do agree with other reviewers, Twilight was better. I enjoyed it but found a few flaws with the film.

In this film, Edward seemed to play a much smaller role, I don't think his scenes were given enough weight and it often seemed that his actions were explained very well. Also a couple of scenes seemed truncated - perhaps they'll be in the deleted scenes section of the dvd? I hope so.

For example, when Edward tells Bella that he is leaving. Far too quick. When it shows Edward taking a photograph from Bella's bedroom, it doesn't show that he is taking all evidence of his ever existing from her - a key reason why she is so miserable afterwards. And the scene when the humans are being taken as food to the Volturi - Bella seems hardly bothered unlike the book where Edward has to force her to move on. And when Edward returns - they resume their relationship without much explanation of why he has changed his mind. No mention that he was going to come back to her anyway because he couldn't stay away.

I do think the scriptwriters must take some of the blame but presumably they were directed where to focus the film?

I did think the relationship with Bella and Jake was very well portrayed and I don't agree that the actor playing him looked too young. However, I felt that the relationship between Bella and Edward seemed to play second fiddle to this.

I'm a real fan of the Twilight saga and did enjoy the first film. I thought New Moon wasn't bad; it felt different to Twilight (in a good way) but it wasn't a great film.

My real criticism would be that Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson only ever seem to have one expression that covers all emotions. After the birthday fiasco, there was no sense of Edward's simmering anger, upset and distancing that there was in the book - we simply went from the party to the scene in the woods. And as for that scene - my (now ex) husband sprang something similar on me and I remember those feelings of utter desolation and desertion, but I had tears pouring down my face - Kristen Stewart simply had the same expression she wore for the rest of the film - never changing. Robert Pattinson is good, looks good and it was always better when he appeared on screen, but again, fairly expressionless. The Volturi scenes were a little clinical and just weren't menacing or threatening - especially Jane who just looked cute.

Taylor Lautner on the other hand, despite me finding Jacob a bit of an irritant in the books, was probably the best thing in the film. He looks amazing - although terribly young at times - and the werewolf scenes were really good, especially the transformations. His acting was more believable and he did at least have a range of expressions.

Having said all this, they did stick fairly faithfully to the story, even using some of the same words, but I did get the impression that Kirsten Stewart seemed bored stiff by it all. Not bad, but not great.