Set soon after the original 'Twilight' film this one opens with Bella worrying about the fact that she will age while her vampire boyfriend Edward will remain forever young... it soon appears that isn't something she should have been worrying about as he soon announces that he and the rest of Cullen clan are moving away and they will never see each other again. Believing she has been abandoned Bella sinks into a depression until one day she puts herself in a dangerous situation and sees a vision of Edward. In order to keep seeing him she decides to play with danger some more. To do this she acquires to broken motorbikes and sets about repairing them with her friend Jacob. Over time they grow closer until one day he too refuses to see her... it turns out he is a werewolf! To make matters even harder for her the vampire Victoria is after her again. After an event occurs that leads Edward to believe Bella has died he decides that in true 'Romeo and Juliet' fashion he must kill himself too; with Alice Cullen's help Bella must race across the world to show him that she is still alive.

I'm not in the target demographic for this series of films but as I'd heard good reviews I thought I'd watch then when they were on television; the first one turned out better than I expected but unfortunately I don't think this one is as good. Once Edward has gone Bella spends the first half of the film just moping about and then gets closer to Jacob who isn't the most interesting of characters; even when we learn he is a werewolf. Talking of the werewolves the CGI did look impressive making them very wolf-like; the problem was the way they transformed from human to werewolf... it happened in a fraction of a second and thus was far less impressive that the slow transformations used in classic werewolf films like 'An American Werewolf in London' and 'The Company of Wolves'... although I suspect such transformations may have been considered to frightening for a film aimed at younger teens. Thankfully the film improves when we get back to the vampires; it helps the head vampire is played by an actor as good as Michael Sheen, it is a pity we didn't see more of his character, in an even smaller role Dakota Fanning impresses as Jane, a vampire who can inflict pain on people telepathically... hopefully we will see more of their characters in later instalments. Of the main cast Kristen Stewart does a good job as Bella, Robert Pattinson is okay as Edward and the third main actor, Taylor Lautner, seemed to be there so he could appeal to teenaged girls by spending most of his screen time looking fit without his shirt on. I'm sure this is a film for the fans (and there is nothing wrong with that),you certainly need to have watched 'Twilight' first to know what is going on as no time is wasted explaining who everybody is for newcomers.

The first Twilight film was pretty good, while not necessarily being my cup of tea. It wasn't a 5-star masterpiece or anything like that but it was watchable. New Moon was okay, but its many problems make it disappointing too. I am one of those who hasn't read the books, but I have friends and relatives who have and while some say the books are good and the movie keeps to the style if not the details of them others say both the books and films are not good. My sister belongs in the former category, though she remarks that the book New Moon was her least favourite of the series and yes she liked the movie. I didn't like the movie as much as her, it had some good moments but it felt dragged out and unconvincing.

I will say there were some good things. There are some scenes in the film that are quite nicely shot, with some decent cinematography and lush scenery, plus the CGI wolves and the special effects in the fight sequences were fairly impressive to say the least. Secondly, Alexandre Desplat's score did have some pleasant parts to it. I will not say that it is particularly memorable or anything like that, and Desplat has done much better work before, but there are some themes that are very nice, particularly Hearing Damage. About Chris Weitz, initially I thought he was a curious choice for director, as I know him best from The Golden Compass, which I admit was a better film. But while he lacks the style of Catherine Hardwicke, he does a decent if not entirely exceptional job directing.

The quality of the acting was uneven, at best it was decent, at worst it was wooden. Taylor Lautner was not bad at all as Jacob not to mention incredibly hunky and handsome, I could tell he was trying to bring some life and momentum into this film and it showed, and Robert Pattinson was a marginal improvement from the previous outing as Edward. Dakota Fanning despite her role being brief is fine as Jane even if it required a lot of staring. Billy Burke is also amusing as Charlie, his and Lautner's acting came off best. Michael Sheen is a great actor, he was perfect in The Queen, and while he has an intriguing and imposing presence he does have a laugh that is quite irritating, even more irritating than Tom Hulce's laugh in Amadeus. However, I wasn't impressed at all with Kristen Stewart as Bella, her facial expressions are limited and her delivery didn't convince.

Other than Stewart's performance, there are other things wrong. One is that the dialogue is incredibly corny and disjointed. Second, the chemistry between Bella and Edward is non-existent, it is better with her and Jacob but it still feels awkward. Thirdly, the story drags so much, not much happens, and when you think something exciting is going to happen, it is just another dragged out scene. I think the most exciting the film got was some bike stunts and some werewolf-vs-vampire scenes. Fourthly, while the scenery is nice, the editing and transitions from scene to scene was rather choppy. Fifthly, the pacing is quite pedestrian, the first 20 minutes or so were so slow moving I almost bailed out but decided not so as it isn't really fair. Finally, the ending, way too abrupt. When Edward said "Marry me Bella", then pause, then finish, I was like "That's it?" I even re-winded to see if I had missed anything, no I did not.

Overall, it was okay, but it wasn't really my cup of tea. 4/10 Bethany Cox

After seeing the first Twilight movie all I can say is that Kristen Stewart's character Bella has some real weird tastes in men. First a vampire and now a werewolf, YEEGADS.

This series of books has become most popular with the current young generation and I can see why. Bella is certainly breaking traditions and questioning certain mores and norms of society to say the least. But the films wouldn't work if you didn't have beautiful and attractive people in the leads who also can be romantic on screen.

That she has in her vampire lover Robert Pattinson. Pattinson and Stewart really do click on screen and their performances make you believe in both Twilight and New Moon.

In the previous film, a third character, a young American Indian kid played by Taylor Lautner is seen and he first clues Stewart in that her inamorata isn't quite human. He likes Stewart also, but from a distance.

But when Pattinson leaves her because he feels the romance can't be, Lautner moves on in. But he's got a big old secret himself. He's got a werewolf gene in him and it's these werewolves that have protected his tribe from the vampire clan that Pattinson belongs to.

I really did admire the special effects, especially those that turned Lautner and his friends into some really convincing large wolves. They do take care of business quite expeditiously.

New Moon does its best in the special effects and the romance department. Those who've read the books know what's coming next, we filmmakers can only anticipate.