Yes, let’s just get over with the whole “omg! The movie was nothing like the book, like it was just horrible!” Come on people. The fact that directors will never be able to fit a 500-page book in 2 hours has been established ever since novels started to take the shape of movies. Now that this fact’s clear, let’s begin.

A lot better than Twilight, the movie was specifically targeted towards fans, and as much as I hate to admit it, someone who has never read the novels will never grow to like it. The improvement in budget and the switch to a much better director, Weitz than Hardwicke was immediately noticeable. Gone were the hilarious action scenes from Twilight and were replaced by a much better quality work. The graphics however, looked a little cartoonish and I was disappointed by Weitz’s interpretation of a wolf. I was expecting wolves to look a little more beastly and huge (like the werewolf from Potter) rather than an overfed dog. Edward’s sparkling skin which had received much laughter from the fans in twilight appeared much better in New Moon and this time it actually resembled diamonds. The set was just absolutely marvelous staying true to the beauty of Forks as described in the book.

The actors really impressed me this time around. Of course, Taylor Lautner stole the light. Not only was his character Jacob Black supposed to be the focus of New Moon, his improved acting skills and his perseverance to keep his role through intensive workout was really what made him standout. I am happy to announce that Robert Pattison and Kristen Stewart finally ditched their overacting. They both played out their roles very naturally, especially Stewart who perfectly expressed Bella’s deep depression without going overboard and crazy. The new cast was beyond perfection. The wolf pack was exactly like I imagined: all muscle and wit. I have to say that my favorite scene involved Bella’s confrontation with the wolf pack. They captured that scene perfectly. The Voulturi cast exceeded my expectations with Dakota Fanning casted as Jane. All the members of Vouluri matched their role pretty well.

There were disappointments in the movie as well, number one being the lack of the wolf pack’s involvement. New Moon was really supposed to be about the wolves and I was really disappointed to see that the pack wasn’t shown much. Someone who has never read the book and only seen the movie will not know who is who in the pack. The book really gets deep down in their personalities and we get to know the pack really well, however, the movie deprives us of that. Hopefully they will enforce that in the movies to come and we will get to see more of the pack. The Cullens again were not given a large part in the movie considering how important they are. I would like to see their personalities develop more in the movie. The funniest thing in the entire movie was Edward and Bella’s first kissing scene. In the book they kiss all the time, its just hard for Edward to keep going considering his longing for Bella’s blood and his fear of hurting her, however, in the movie they make it appear as a very big deal and the scenes get a little too intense and unnatural. The thing that made me really happy was they, a) finally show us Bella and Alice’s relationship and b) finally mention Japers’ ability which they left out in Twilight.

The movie did an excellent job of converting the most boring book in the entire saga to a not so boring movie. Considering the fact that Edward is gone for most of the book, the movie incorporated this well by making him appear in Bella’s dream since he is the main character.

The movie was loved by those of us who actually knew what was going on and hated by those who couldn’t grasp the concept. For some it was just pure eye candy with so many good looking men involved. Now who in their right mind would not want to go watch that?

 Author: Wafa Zahid