NEW MOON is problematic from a storytelling perspective.   Edward is gone from the story for half of the film.   You have mopey Bella who decides to be thrill seeker so she can see Edward in her head speak to her.   Edward rips out part of her heart after the Cullens leave Forks, Washington due to Jasper almost wanting to kill Bella at her birthday party (a paper cut that makes her bleed).  Bella decides to start hanging with Jacob (who has grown buff and is shirtless for many of his scenes).  

NEW MOON may appeal to females more due to the frequent scenes of shirtless teenage boys (who just happen to be werewolves).   Sometimes, I wanted to get snarky with aspects of this film.   Bella so wants to be emo while Edward is clearly more of an emo vampire (Robert Pattison makes Edward seem like he will burst into tears anytime due to his pained expression all of the time).   Also the male vampires are pasty and ugly compared to the werewolves.  The women in the film whether they’re vampire, human, or scarred by werewolf come to be beautiful.  However, NEW MOON isn’t a total loss for male audiences due to the action scenes which don’t start showing up until halfway into the film.  Chris Weitz does a better directing job at a TWILIGHT film than Catherine Hardwicke, but I do think the script is a little stronger overall with the first one.

ANALYSIS (second view):

I liked NEW MOON more on a second viewing.  It seems it is the second Chris Weitz movie I have liked better on a second viewing.  Some forms of sarcasm do still leak through for a few scenes when I’m watching, but the stuff that works still comes through.   The soundtrack stands out more as what the director has described as the ultimate breakup soundtrack.   The action scenes are really excellently directed.   Chris Weitz was more able to handle this movie compared to Hardwicke’s job on TWILIGHT.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Disc One features an audio commentary with Director Chris Weitz and Editor Peter Lambert.  They talk about the production with loads of details, but it isn’t one of the most exciting tracks to listen to and yet not the driest of tracks.

Disc Two has a 65 minute making-of documentary called THE JOURNEY CONTINUES which is in six parts:

LIFE AFTER TWILIGHT

CHRIS WEITZ TAKES THE HELM- cast and crew talk about the director

THE SUBTLE DETAILS- production and costume design

A LOOK AT PRODUCTION- all the little things they handled including going inside when it snowed on April 1^st (to do green screen work)

IT’S NOT MAGIC-the special effects

READY FOR THE WORLD- the score and the editing of the film

Also on that disc are three music videos- “Meet Me On The Equinox” by Death Cab For Cutie, “Satellite Heart” by Anya Marina, and the boring video by Mutemath for “Spotlight”.   Behind-The-Scenes Rehearsal footage of “I Belong To You” by Muse is also included, but a music video would have been better.

Disc three is a disc that is exclusive to the Target Deluxe Edition.   18 minutes of deleted scenes is the first thing you will find.   Bella’s nightmare is my favorite deleted scene, but I’m glad the Victoria scene was cut.

Several featurettes are included on the disc-

INTERVIEW WITH THE VOLTURI- interviews with the actors who play the Volturi

THE BEAT GOES ON looks at the various music artists that form the soundtrack for NEW MOOM

FRAME BY FRAME: STORYBOARDS TO SCREEN- a comparison of six scenes from the film

FANDIMONIUM-  all about the fans of TWILIGHT during the San Diego Comic Con where the cast and crew are promoting NEW MOON.

FINAL ANALYSIS:   NEW MOON is one for TWILIGHT fans.  If you want to see what was cut, get the three disc from Target on DVD (or the two disc Blu-ray).   The making of documentary is a good making of if you want to see what went into making NEW MOON.

This DVD review is (c)3-24-2010 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission.  Send all comments to lord_pragmagtic@hotmail.com