First of all, let me start with a disclaimer – I’ve only watched New Moon once when it opened last Friday, so this post is only about my first impression on the movie. I’ll probably write a review after I’ve seen it a couple of times. I haven’t read any other reviews as well so that I won’t be prejudiced or influenced by them.

I was a bit wary because a friend who watched the premiere showing of New Moon the night before told me that teenage fangirls kept screaming whenever Edward was on screen, making it hard to concentrate on the movie and hard to listen to the dialogue. Thankfully, I didn’t have this experience. The crowd was pretty quiet except for the spontaneous intake of breath when Jacob first removed his shirt. I guess he really was sort of beautiful in that scene.

Anyway, here are some of my comments about the movie:

1. The effects were so much better. Seriously. It only makes the special effects of Twilight so much more laughable. I loved how the wolves transform, and how the vampires (especially Victoria) move. No more swooshing sound either whenever the vampires are running, though there is still that tinkling sound when Edward exposed his body to the sunlight.

2. The make up was so much better too. The vampires (especially Esme) were paler and less natural looking. However, I thought Edward’s lipstick was a bit too… red.

3. There were a lot of direct quotes from the books. I didn’t even realize this while watching the movie since I haven’t read New Moon in years. The next day, I got out my copy of New Moon and re-read it the whole day, and was pleasantly surprised at the number of quotes lifted word for word from the book.

4. Taylor Lautner was… great. He was able to do something that the book wasn’t able to do – make me sympathetic to Team Jacob. As I mentioned, the audience all gasped when he first took off his shirt – myself included. It was a spontaneous reaction. It’s obvious he really worked out, and I thought he looks better with cropped hair.

5. The soundtrack, which I thought was too depressing when I first listened to it, fit quite well in the movie. I made another post regarding my predictions on where the songs would appear, but it seems I got everything wrong. All I remember is “Satellite Heart” was played in Bella’s truck when Bella and Edward was talking after the disastrous birthday party, “Possibility” was played while the months passed and Bella was just sitting depressed at her room, and “A White Demon Love Song” was played during the closing credits.

6. Alice’s outfits were always very cute. She was always very cute too, though her hair is a bit longer.

7. I love the scene where Bella was just sitting in her room and the camera was rotating around her, while the passing months (October, November, and so on) were super-imposed on the screen. The changing seasons were shown as well in the window outside her room. I thought it was a very creative way to translate that part from the book, which had blank pages with only the words October, November and so on…

8. I love the scene where Bella is seen sitting alone in the Cullens’ table at the cafeteria, and her friends were looking at her. That wasn’t in the book, but it was a great way to show how she was dealing with the pain and how isolated she was from her friends.

9. I loved the ending! I won’t give any spoilers, but there was also a rather loud reaction from the audience when “Directed by Chris Weitz” appeared on the screen.

10. I love how the movie followed the book faithfully. This is something I wish other moviemakers would do – respect the book, respect the story and respect the fans. I don’t think there were any major plot differences, like in Twilight.