Twilight / New Moon: my review and moviegoer views

I saw Twilight / New Moon on its opening Thursday night November 18th at the Grand Lake Theater in Oakland, and I have to say it was "OK." I wasn't overwhelmed by the movie or the story but it held my attention and that was surprising to me.

The movie kind of plods along. It has a lot of long, drawn out scenes that could have been more elegant in their direction. But that written, people I talked to said this second movie in the series more closely followed the book that did the first movie, Twilight.

What I liked most about the story was that Bella's - who was played by Kristen Stewart - father was involved. This story doesn't try to hide adults; if Bella's lost, he's out there trying to find her. He knows about Edward Cullen (Rob Pattinson) but not that he's a vampire. I liked that the relationships between adults and teens was about as real as one could expect for this kind of movie.

Bella's constant interest in bad guys was what I hated the most, but that is (to a degree) the point of the storyline. I'm told that Bella eventually grows out of this but that happens about four books in. I've not even read the first one.

But that said and written, the simple fact that I am picking out these details means I was paying attention and that the story had meaning. Twilight / New Moon is not a bad picture; it's a cross between Dracula and All My Children. It has a lot of character "stuff" that gives its fans something to consume and talk about, but the story is presented well enough to create new fans.

In all Twilight / New Moon accomplishes the objective of appealing to fans of the series but not alienating people who are new to it like me. It's not 'Oscar: Best Picture' material because there's not a certain message that carries it yet can be applied to life. But it's a good story to watch unfold on the big screen.