The Howl of New Moon

New Moon, the second installment of the Twilight franchise, is tween catnip, filled with drool-worthy long shots of young heartthrobs, struggles with popularity and romance, and, of course, a supernatural story line. New Moon attempts to address more complex and difficult issues than Twilight did, but its execution doesn’t match its ambition. The film opens with a dream sequence in which Bella (Kristen Stewart) struggles over her pending aging—something her vampire love Edward (Robert Pattinson) will never experience. Her solution to this problem? Become a vampire, of course. Later, when Edward leaves Bella alone in their small town, her character develops extreme depression. Rather than dealing with her emotions, she engages in risky behaviors—like hastily electing to get on the back of a motorcycle driven by a very old, very sketchy stranger.

There’s plenty of action and suspense in New Moon, and the addition of werewolves means lots of fight scenes with Bella caught right in the middle. There’s also a new love plot—with Edward out of town, the hunky werewolf Jacob (Taylor Lautner) and Bella develop a close relationship. Unfortunately, Bella does not reciprocate Jacob’s emotions, and we see a young man strung along. Perhaps I’m displaying my pro-Jacob bias, but I was rooting for the strapping werewolf the whole way.

Fear Factor: (The undead are generally tame in New Moon, but Bella is never out of harm’s way. There’s high action, suspense, and some very scary-looking new characters.)
Heart: (For two passionate lovers, Bella and Edward seem somewhat vacant.)
Attitude: (Bella is a bit of a teenage rebel. She leaves home at will, invites numerous boys into her room through the window, and rarely heeds her father’s lame attempts at discipline.)
Psst: There’s a cameo from a blood-sucking version of Dakota Fanning. Also, the soundtrack of New Moon has some heavy hitters in the independent rock world (including Bon Iver and Lykke Li).
If you like this: Look for the upcoming sequel to New Moon, Eclipse, or crack open the movie’s inspiration, written by Stephanie Meyer. For the older audience, I recommend the original vampire diva, Anne Rice.