Where to buy:
Amazon has Twilight New Moon DVD on sale now for the lowest price anywhere.

Review:
In the second installment of the The Twilight Saga Collection, "New Moon," director Chris Weitz religiously sticks to author Stephanie Meyer's plotline to deliver a film of which fans--preteens, teens and Twi-Moms alike--will definitely approve. Others not of the Twilight persuasion may have a bit of trouble relating to the Bella/Edward/Jacob triangle as this film assumes you are already well versed with and feeling the magic from the books rather than pulling out all the stops to conjure up a little more multi-faceted chemistry between the three lead characters.

Weitz and screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg also assume that their audience is well aware of the various physical and mental talents of the Cullen vampire clan as no introductory synopsis of the goings-on of the first film is offered as a starting point for the plotline driving the second. Quite obviously, this is a film created for and by the fans as testified by the satisfied squeals of approval, barks of laughter and spontaneous applause emitted by the mainly teen audience each and every time they felt the film successfully reproduced the action in their beloved books to perfection.

As a standalone film, `New Moon' portrays a lot of teen angst. When Edward Cullen, vampire pretty boy extraordinaire, (Rob Pattinson's quiet smoldering mannerisms attempt to emulate a Rebel Without a Cause with a twist--he has lived long enough to understand the sad loneliness of an eternal life) decides that his continued presence in the life of his soul mate, high school senior Bella Swan, can only insure her premature demise, he and his family leave the Washington state scene of their established home. Left behind Bella is bereft, barely able to function, until amazingly buff Jacob of the Quileute Indian Reservation thankfully fills the theater with his blazingly white smile and more than adequate ability to manage whatever comes his way with a competent efficiency. Sadly, as much as she enjoys Jacob's company, Bella doesn't find him distracting enough--even without his shirt. Instead she orchestrates ways to filter Pattinson's archangel face back on the screen where thousands of teenage girls feel it belongs; the more reckless her behavior the more consistent his reappearance as some sort of swirling protective figment of her intuition.

In her novel, Meyer more than flirts with the theme of choosing death rather than living without the constant presence of your star-designated soul mate. At eighteen, just like Shakespeare's Juliet, Bella wants to know only Edward despite the fact that she comes from a broken home. Sweet to believe that in our world of helter-skelter emotions, short-termed relationships and finance breaking divorce that something so pure and iconic can exist for a lifetime let alone eternity. Those who have read the novels understand Bella's predicament and her idealistic uncontrolled drive towards an unknown from which she should run. From the books, we know that Edward realizes this as does Jacob who like an actual flesh and blood man desires nobility but selfishly wants for himself and his chosen woman the warmth and safety of his hearth and home.

Of the three film characters, the only one who is able to convey his motivation is Jacob. Look past the desire for the filmmakers to show off an attractive body with mega shirtless reveals and capitalize on his ability to infiltrate the dreams of a multitude of women as the ultimate American Indian Dreamcatcher. Despite some corny dialogue--not the fault of screenwriter Rosenberg as the clumsiest lines are straight out of the book--that did elicit some laughter from the audience, somehow Taylor Lautner manages to make a solid case for what he can offer Bella and her future. Yes, supernatural elements abound for this character also, but the promise of a good life with warmth and love is evident to the extreme.

Not so with Pattinson's Edward, although most of `New Moon's' story focuses on the Jacob/Bella leg of the triangle and the vampire hero gets less screen time. Perhaps, it is the desire for the filmmakers and Meyer herself to depict the chalky-faced, amber-eyed and tossed-salad haired mega-hunk Edward as an old-fashioned guy who for the most part controls his emotions with a stilted turn-of-the-century sensibility. I can rationalize Edward's actions and desires with regard to his Bella, but somehow, despite Pattinson's obvious beauty, I fail to feel any of the heat that I would associate with a modern day Romeo especially since Meyer's definition of vampire includes a rocklike coldness that unfortunately forces me to think of frigidity. (Check out Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo & Juliet--the exuberance of young love unchecked is extremely evident in the performances of the then young stars.) In addition, I sorely missed the presence of a key melody; there were none of the haunting strains of "Bella's Lullaby" by Carter Burwell that enhanced and reminded the audience of the moodiness of the lovers' dilemma yet reinforced their commitment no matter what.

Admittedly, if I were to choose sides, I would most definitely lean towards Team Jacob. Not only do I prefer the heat to the cold, I find Edward's pained expression and inability to seemingly relax--whether from his forced composure around Bella's blood-filled veins or his slightly stilted century old sensibilities regarding love and romance--a little off-putting. Part of the problem arises from the novelist's intentional misconception regarding what girls or women in general expect their men to say and how they desire them to act. Unfortunately, most men do not follow such a script and sadly the young adults reading such sentimental lines by these most quintessential young men will inevitably be disappointed by reality. Nonetheless, I, too, love a fairytale, one in which the damsel in distress is loved and protected without limits or self-aggrandizing reluctance by her knights in shining armor. For me, the warmth of fur far outweighs the iciness of stone, especially in the rainy northwest.

As for our heroine, Bella presents a mixed bag for me. In the first film and as warranted by the book's narrative, Bella has a reluctance like many teenagers to get involved in anything that will end in disappointment. She is a bit hardened by her parents' divorce, anesthetized by her disinterest in girly-girl activities and displeased by her innate clumsiness. In `New Moon,' Edward's love does not seem to have had much of an effect on her other than to further her insecurities and avoidance towards emotional disaster and push her into a fast decision regarding lifestyle choices that will reverberate for an eternity. Bella's subdued maturity--she acts as cook and housekeeper for her sheriff father--her smug desire to kiss Edward until he shudders with unrequited passion and insistence to join the Cullen clan suggest little growth. She is like driftwood moved by the Cullen and Quileute tides. Accordingly, in compliance with the abbreviated amount of time spanning all four of the novels and the two supernatural storms that assault Bella's natural defensiveness, Bella remains the same. Kristin Stewart's image conjures up an instant association with the Bella character. However, in `New Moon,' she appears overly manicured and stylized with her too perfect eyebrows, head-banded hair and lip glossed pout. Meyer's Bella self-deprecates with a much more relaxed sense of grooming despite the efforts of the well-meaning Alice. Without the first person narration, Stewart plays the depressed Bella with a mute melancholy that gets old fast. Indeed, it is amazing that the two attractive leads are interested in her at all.

Techinically speaking, the film boasts some great special effects. The Quileute wolf pack is rendered with great fun as computer-generated-images of massive bulk, expressive liquid eyes and frothy flawless pelts. The `phasing' sequences realistically convey the anger and angst of yet another brand of the adolescent coming-of-age made popular by the Smallville - The Complete First Season television series. Action scenes abound, as the audience gets spectacular bird's eye views to the supernatural occurrences that overshadow the normal life happenings in the woodland surrounding the town of Forks, Washington. As with all such stories, the plot is driven by threat: threat of vagabond vampires with glowing red blood-filled eyes trespassing on Cullen and Quileute territory and that of the Volturi vampire rulers who ascertain that the secret existence of their kind remains contained within a closed set.

Conclusion: Director Weitz successfully brings the second installment of the young adult Twilight saga to the big screen. However, his true-to-the-letter adaptation, at times, fails in the same way that the novel does--not in creating a modern look at Romeo and Juliet and then crossing it with the competitive love triangle found in Bronte's Wuthering Heights (Barnes & Noble Classics)--but in not really succeeding in creating a tangible feel for the chemistry between the characters. The overt cuteness of Meyer/Rosenberg's dialogue may work in offering a lighthearted young adult presentation of a melancholy theme that depicts an unsure girl unprepared for the big questions brought on by supernatural circumstances, but it falls short in its portrayal of the depth of the connections between the three main characters except in regard to Jacob's hot, out-of-control feeling for Bella. Recommended for the consummate Twilight fan.

Where to buy:
Amazon has Twilight New Moon DVD on sale now for the lowest price anywhere.