Sunday, November 22, 2009

New Moon

The kids and I went on Saturday to see New Moon, mainly to avoid all the crazed Twilight fans who packed the theaters for the Thursday midnight and Friday shows. Still, the show we planned to see was sold out when we arrived (15 minutes before start time; traffic on the way there was really heavy) so we bought tickets for the next show and went and had a leisurely lunch.

When we came back for our show, they sent us to the largest stadium-style theater, and it was packed to the rafters. I actually had to sit in the row behind the kids because we couldn't find enough empty seats together. I'm going to do this again, too, because while I could keep an eye on them from where I was, I didn't have to put up with trying to watch the movie amidst a thousand giggles, whispers and Omigods from the girls.

Some potential spoilers follow; you have been warned.

Overall I thought the movie was okay, and stayed pretty faithful to the novel, although I only read New Moon once so don't quote me on that. I liked the characters of Jacob and Carlisle best, and they both made the movie for me. The filming was beautifully done, with plenty of interesting angles and special effects -- and please note, computer-generated stuff never bothers me because I'm too old and near-sighted to tell if it's real or it's digital; your mileage may vary.

I still didn't like a few things that were carried over from Twilight, like the weird vampire makeup and the odd-colored contacts they wear. I wish Emmet would get more lines and screen time; he's fun. The scenes with Victoria running through the forest were a waste of film. Most annoying/overdone detail: there were so many audible gasps and other breathing sounds from Bella's character I felt like I should be yelling for a rescue inhaler every time she came on screen.

The violence wasn't too over-the-top, but there seemed to be a great deal more of it in this movie compared to Twilight (it's been a while since I saw the first movie, though, so I may have forgotten it.) I saw a lot of very young kids in the theater, and personally I'd be very hesitant to bring a child under the age of 13 to see this movie.

Some other thoughts:

If you're going this week, buy your tickets in advance and get there early to see what sort of lines you'll be dealing with. The show after ours had at least three hundred people waiting in line by the time we came out.

New Moon is a long movie, clocking in at 2 hours 10 minutes, so definitely hit the restroom before it starts and don't drink a vat of soda during the film.

Having a healthy lunch immediately before the movie provided an unexpected bonus; no one wanted the movie theater's very unhealthy popcorn, candy or sodas when we went back for our show. Probably saved me at least $40.

You might consider pre-screening the movie yourself before you bring kids who are easily impressionable or under the age of 13 for a couple of reasons:

-- The romantic content remains hugging and light kissing only, but there is definitely more of that, and a building adult theme to the relationship between the protagonists.

-- The werewolves are not of the drippy or gross variety, and the transformations are almost instantaneous so you don't even catch it if you blink, but there are several group attack scenes and one battle between two werewolves that might frighten a little one.

--There was also a lot more implied/offstage violence, as when they lead a large group of unsuspecting tourists (including a small child) in to the Italian vampires. You don't see anything, but you do hear screams begin and none of the heroic characters do anything to intervene.

-- I thought the most graphic scene was one that showed a before-and-after manual decapitation of one vampire by another. It wasn't bloody or extended, but it was brutal and disturbing.

My two hardcore Twilight fans said it was better and much more exciting than the first movie. So it made the kids happy, although the girls were completely on the edge of their seats during the very last scene, which ends on another Bella gasp. After that both girls swore they'd have to be first in line to see the next movie, which means we'll be doing this again in June 2010, when Eclipse hits the theaters.

13 comments:

  1. I really thought it was much better than the first Twilight movie. I agree it followed the book pretty well, but I've heard from others they didn't think it followed close enough. I also agree that young children should not be in the theater for this movie. I was shocked at the number of kids under 10 in my theater on Friday night, as was my friend. We have already made plans to see Eclipse in June.

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  2. I just saw it with my daughter and enjoyed it. Squeals and gasps from the girls were fun. Thought it was better than the first.

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  3. Anonymous11:02 AM

    Italian vampires? No garlic? Dieses Dammerung has my tween girls writing stories and acting out scenarios w/Bella - i keep trying to explain to them who lugosi is, but it goes over their heads....

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  4. My son bought me the twilight DVD when it came out. I didn't get around to watching it till about a month ago but enjoyed it despite several things that made me a littel crazy/itchy. I was almost tempted to read the book.

    Almost.

    heh.

    Not sure if I'll see this movie in theatres or not. It'll probably be more enjoyable cinematically on the big screen, but I'm just as likely to watch it on dvd also. Or wait until all the furor has died down.

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  5. I've seen Twilight, but I don't really like the books and I'm not planning on seeing New Moon.

    The gasps and breathing from Bella were a little annoying in the first movie. :P

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  6. Anonymous5:15 PM

    I was actually wondering what you thought about the Twilight books, PBW. Do you have a blog on that I missed? I am tempted to read them but I am turned off by sparkly vampires...

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  7. lissalb8 wrote: I was actually wondering what you thought about the Twilight books, PBW. Do you have a blog on that I missed?

    I wrote a few general comments at the end of a post here, but I wasn't able to get beyond the first fifty pages of the fourth novel so I never finished the series. The Twilight books were my daughter's favorite reads last year, and I thought having her review them would be more interesting, so she wrote them up and gave away some copies here.

    I would borrow the first one from the library and see what you think of it. It's pretty much more of the same throughout the rest of the books.

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  8. The gasps when Jacob takes off his shirt were almost tumultuous, when Edward took off his shirt? A snigger from the crowd. I think I went with a theatre full of TeamJacobs.

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  9. Anonymous6:27 AM

    Thank you for the advice. I'm going to try to borrow a copy from a friend and see how it goes. I've been resisting, but I've unfortunately realized that I don't have the same excuse I had with Harry Potter: If Twilight was not popular and I found it on a bookshelf, I probably would read it. Not so with HP.

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  10. Okay Lynn, I will trust you on this.

    I have never read Twilight or any of the sequels. I tried to watch the movie but was kinda disappointed and didn't finish it. and I love vampire/werewolf stories!

    Is the book series worth it to buy it?

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  11. Natalie wrote: The gasps when Jacob takes off his shirt were almost tumultuous, when Edward took off his shirt? A snigger from the crowd. I think I went with a theatre full of TeamJacobs.

    I kind of wondered why they chose to show both characters naked to the waist in the same movie. Edward definitely suffered by comparison; the actor (Taylor?) who plays Jacob has beautiful skin and is in amazing shape.

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  12. Eugenia wrote: Okay Lynn, I will trust you on this.

    No pressure, though. Ha. :)

    I have never read Twilight or any of the sequels. I tried to watch the movie but was kinda disappointed and didn't finish it. and I love vampire/werewolf stories!

    I think I enjoyed Twilight mainly because I watched my daughter more than the movie. At a few points there were tears in her eyes; I've never seen her have such an emotional reaction to a straight people film (she's teared up over the end of a few dog movies; that's about it.)

    Is the book series worth it to buy it?

    I think it depends on the reader. I know a lot of adult women love the series, and certainly plenty of teens do. But I think you have to be very young-minded to really get into the books. For me personally they were just too young, too long, too drawn out and chock full of that "Does he like me? Does she like me?" type angst that I have no patience with at my age. Maybe when I was 13 I would have loved them, I don't know.

    I do appreciate how much this author has enchanted my daughter and her friends, and through this series motivated them to read so many more books in this genre. Like J.K. Rowling, she has done a tremendous thing for Publishing and getting kids to read.

    As I recc'd to lissa above, I would check out the first one from the library, Eugenia. Test drive the author before you invest in all the books; see if it appeals to you.

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