New Moon

Despite being a shade boring in the first 20 minutes or so New Moon delivers on what it promised when Twilight finished up 12 months ago.

I don't really understand all the teenage girl hype that has been going on since Twilight hit screens last year (I find Edward to be a really painful character).

Anyway, New Moon begins with Bella's (Kristen Stewart) 18th birthday. She doesn't want to make a big deal of it but allows herself to be enticed by Edward (Robert Pattinson) into a celebration with his family.

As gifts are handed out with varying amounts of glee, Bella cuts herself and the blood that follows (despite it being a minor cut) clicks Jasper into action and he rushes at her. As a result of Edward's protection Bella is badly cut and he eventually decides it is time he left and the family packs up and moves away from Forks.

Bella plunges into depression.

Eventually she starts hanging out with Jacob (Taylor Launtner) and this is where the movie starts to pick up and get interesting.

I guess it is because Jacob is a bit more interesting than Edward and more three dimensional that makes the film much more watchable.

The best bits, though, involve the emergence of the werewolves and the introduction of the Volturi (fans will know what this is about). New Moon sees Jacob emerge as a player for Bella's affections and she is forced to choose.

I had hoped that New Moon would be significantly better than Twilight but I have to settle with it being on par.

However, there are some great things about New Moon. The aforementioned werewolves. The scene in which they appear through the trees is awesome and the fight between Paul and Jacob is great. The scenes with Laurent in the clearing, chasing Victoria, the cliff diving scene, Alice's return and her confrontation with Jacob, the Yellow Porsche, the weird date with Mike and Jacob to the movies. I could go on.

If you've read the book, the film will please you (after a slow start). If you haven't you won't really want to see it anyway.

So we move on to Eclipse and there are some awesome scenes I'm keen to see played out on screen. There's a new director for Twilight III and one that has more of a storyteller's reputation. So the hopes will again be raised.

As for New Moon, I'll go 8 out of 10 and bring on June 2010.