My Two Cents

So, you all know that I saw The Twilight Saga: New Moon this weekend, and you also know that I was super psyched. But, what's my "now that I've seen it" opinion? Well, blog, I'm so glad you asked, because I've had two days to think about it and I'm going to tell you.

First of all, a little of my Twilight history...I didn't watch the first movie until it came out on video. Until then, I knew very little about the series other than it had a crazy following and was some type of vampire love story (which I'm apparently in to.) I loved it, so I read the 2nd book to see what happened next (because I love spoilers.) I got hooked, and within about a week, had read all four. All this to say, I watched Twilight before ever reading the books, so I had nothing to compare it to. This time was different.

If you know anything about the series, you know that fans typically fall into two categories: Team Edward and Team Jacob. I am 100% loyal to Team Edward. Jacob never stood a chance in my opinion. That made reading New Moon difficult for me because Edward was gone for 80% of it. I knew that also meant that I probably wouldn't like this movie as well as Twilight, and I was right.

New Moon was very different than Twilight in a lot of ways. The style was different, the score was different, and even some of the acting felt different. I still loved it, of course, because it's a necessary part of the series, but Twilight remains my favorite. In this movie, I had to experience the disappointment of not seeing some of my favorite scenes from the book. Although, I did enjoy watching Bella's time spent with Jacob a lot more than I did reading it. I think because it was condensed, the impact of their relationship was more intense, and coming from an avid Team Edward member, that's saying something.

I recently read an article outlining 20 differences between the movie and book that turned out to be improvements, and I agree with most of them. But I'm also going to share the scenes I missed the most. In the book, Alice's return is your first link to Edward in almost 300 pages. Just like Bella, I was so relieved to see her. I loved that time spent with her, and especially the scene between Alice and Charlie where Alice learns the full extent of Bella's grief. Alice knowing means Edward will know, and that was comforting. I know they can't include every scene, but that was a must for me and I didn't feel like the movie even gave it an adequate substitute. I also didn't like how they completely skipped the trip back from Italy. I understand why, but I still didn't like it. In the book, I'd been waiting 300 pages for that reunion and even though it was only a few chapters, she did it justice. I felt like the movie hurried it along a little too much and it just wasn't as satisfying.

Overall, I really liked the movie. I definitely feel like it did a great job of making the case for Team Jacob, maybe better than I would have liked. New Moon is not Team Edward's book and they stayed true to that. Will I see it again? Probably, but not with the obsession that I watched Twilight. Am I looking forward to the third one just as much? YES! It's my favorite book of the series, and I can't wait to see it on the big screen!