Imagine if you will the highest soaring highs and the lower-than-low lowest lows of raging teen girl hormones out of control and you will begin to almost grasp that which is Twilight New Moon. For some this is a pleasant thing, for others it’s a hellish nightmare. I’m not too sure where I fall in there. I’m a hopeless romantic but even I have limits. I can’t honestly say I’d turn the levels down though. It is what it is. It’s romance on steroids. I absolutely love how the author, Stephanie Meyer, was able to teleport me back to those angst riddled days of teen love when I read the books. And I’m equally as happy that the filmmakers didn’t screw that up because that is what makes Twilight so much fun.

In the first movie we met our loving couple Bella (Kristen Stewart) and Edward (Robert Pattinson). We soon learned that not only did Bella have to deal with moving to and fitting in with a new town and school but also falling in love with not a boy but a vampire. How complicated can a teen’s life get?  Well movie #2 adds more pieces to the crazy pie.  Nothing complicates a teenage girl’s life more than falling in love for the first time except when said teen falls for TWO guys. Oh the horror of it all! Toss in a few break ups and life might as well be over at 18. But then having both of them turn out to be supernatural creatures really is just icing on the cake.  And then to find out that the girlfriend of the boy your boyfriend killed is trying to kill you just seriously messes things up. I mean seriously how inconsiderate is that? But wait there’s more! Then your boyfriend thinks you’re dead and has to go all Romeo so you have to fly half way around the world to save his stone cold butt and then fend off thousand year old vampires while still thinking you’re over the hill and there’s no way this gorgeous vampire is going to love you anymore because you’re so old (18 is ancient after all). And you still have to get your school work done.

If you’ve read the books; this is the only movie I’ve ever seen in all my years of movie watching that got it right. They didn’t miss anything! And more importantly they didn’t change anything. It’s a beautiful visualization of the second book in the Twilight saga.  From “THE” heart wrenching scene that opens the book all the way through the first confrontation with the Volturi on to the end – everything is there. It’s as though Meyer wrote the screenplay too. If this is how they will continue the series I’ll be a very happy girl. Not sure how they’re going to pull off Breaking Dawn but then that book really can be dropped off a very high cliff.

If you haven’t read the books but saw the first movie you’re in for a much better ride. The bigger budget shows so everything is just a bit richer visually.  They defiantly took more time with the FX.  They started out a little shaky so I was worried but they improved fast and weren’t over used. They obviously used image tracking on dogs because the wolf fight scenes were dead on right. It’s a love story not an action flick so they used just the right amount of FX to remind you it has some supernatural aspects to the story. The acting got better from the first movie (the actors are far more comfortable in their roles now) but it’s still not Oscar quality. Not all movies need to be Oscar quality. They just need to be entertaining. And this movie is definitely entertaining. Kristen and Rob give decent performances. Kristen does well with the whole awkward don’t look him in the eye and always look worried thing. Rob has mastered the brooding pout. Taylor Lautner, playing Jacob, is the one that has improved the most. He has a harder job this time around to try and help us feel the pain he’s going through. I think he did an outstanding job! I’m so happy the studio decided to keep him. He rocks the screen in more ways then one (take lots of napkins girls – the abs are featured a lot). I think the scene stealer though was Billy Burke as Bella’s dad Charlie. He did an over the top job as the dad of a sometimes out of her mind teen. Kudos to him!  The rest of the cast does a pretty decent job in supporting. I thought they’d give more to Dakota Fanning since she’s an accredited actress.  I think you can count all of her words (not just lines) on one hand. But I think it worked out well because you don’t want to pull away from the leads.

I highly recommend this to anyone that wants to have a nice overdose of romance.

If you’re a heterosexual male with no heart then stay away from all theaters for the next month at least. Seriously the squeels of glee were louder than the end of the world 2012 in the next theater.