Maggie Noodle Review - New Moon

Reviewing a movie like New Moon is not an easy task. Based on the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer, it is the second installment in the love story of Isabella "Bella" Swan and Edward Cullen. Bella is a morose, klutzy, unenthusiastic teenager who has recently moved to her father's town in Washington (the state). At school she runs into the Cullens, a group of stylish, haughty, and aloof kids. Something isn't quite right about them, but Bella does not care one bit, developing a fascination for Edward.

In Twilight, she found out their secret - the Cullens are vampires. Not your traditional long-fanged, flying through the air, killed-by-garlic-and-crosses vampires, but vampires nevertheless. In New Moon, she finds out that vampires are not the only strange things lurking in Forks, WA. There are werewolves to contend with, too. And Bella, if not anything, is consistent in that she is attracted to them, too. Or at least to one of them, Jacob Black. So what was a love story of the forbidden kind (vampire and human) is now a love triangle of the awkward kind, since vampires and werevolves are mortal enemies, wouldn't you know it?

Already I have told you a lot of the story without telling you anything. There are a whole bunch of "rules" and "explanations" and other stuff that goes on in the books, and obliquely, in the movie. The movie stays fairly true to the book, within boundaries, and is actually quite engrossing once you stop thinking about it. I went in prepared to cringe my way through it. (Full disclosure: I own the whole series so I have already read all 4 books). After a few minutes, I stopped worrying about the target audience and the pseudo-heaviness of the character's problems. Like all romance stories, this one also survives because characters talk in half-sentences and do not articulate their feelings. If they would only spend five minutes clearing the air then there would be no story. So misunderstandings are the order of the day.

I got swept along in the enthusiasm of the crowd and the earnestness with which the actors were portraying their roles and came out enjoying it more than I should really care to admit. I may not stay awake at night dreaming of Bella, but I am curious to see whether the glimpses of life the actress (Kristin Stewart) shows are the real deal or not. The fate of the franchise depends upon her lightening up and lighting up (pun intended)!