Let me begin by saying that I hated Stephanie Meyers’ book New Moon, but the movie that came from it isn’t half bad. Undoubtedly thanks screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg’s diligent pruning and cutting, New Moon was able to make the fantastic world of vampires and werewolves that much more tenable. Like so many famtasy films before it, New Moon allows us mere mortals the opportunity to believe in an unknown and dangerous underworld. On the other hand, New Moon can’t seem to shake some laugh-out-loud moments, and I don’t mean comic relief.

To the credit of filmmaker Chris Weitz, New Moon isn’t the complete disaster that could have been. I think that the reason the first Twilight film was able to achieve any feeling of authenticity was because of the skill of director Catherine Hardwicke in letting teenagers think and act like teenagers. To me, some of the best moments in Twilight were the scenes where our heroine Bella (Kristen Stewart) was arriving at her new school for the first time, struggling as she found herself the centre of attention, getting awkward when Cupid’s arrow strikes revealing the vision that is Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson). But then we launched into the sparkle vampire thing and I don’t know what happened.

Actually, I don’t have a huge problem with the sparkling in sunlight vamps. To me, it was an interesting twist on why vampires didn’t like sunlight, while still allowing them to come out during the daytime. At the very least it avoids any kind of conceit like magic rings for example. Yes, I’m looking at you, Vampire Diaries. The point is there’s a lot of hate out there about the Twilight books and movies. Would it be remiss to say that Twilight is the most polarizing book since the Bible? Sacrilege? Truly, I feel the books are harmless, especially in terms of how they affect the status of vampires in horror movie lore. Let teen girls have Twilight because there’s always Near Dark or 30 Days of Night if you like a truly sadistic vamp tale.

But this isn’t quite a vampire movie. If Twilight was Edward’s time to shine – pun intended – then New Moon belongs to Jacob, played by Taylor Lautner. As you might recall from part one, Jacob is Bella’s childhood friend. In New Moon, Jacob learns of his true family heritage, and quite literally unleashes the wolf within. Lautner wears the mantle of romantic lead much easier than Pattinson did through much of Twilight. But even Mr. Sexiest Man Alive manages to find some semblance of character outside squinting and pouting. Stewart graciously elevates Bella beyond the whiny mess she becomes in the book, and manages to find some tenable emotion.

What’s frustrating is that when New Moon gets 60 per cent of the way, and appears to be achieving some semblance of good drama, it does something luridly melodramatic. For instance, having Edward appear like a dead Jedi, warning Bella away from dangerous situations after he leaves her high, dry, and broken-hearted at the beginning of the movie. Actually, there’s a lot about his performance that provoked laughter, even from his swooning target audience. In his first scene, Pattinson strolls across the school parking lot, in slow motion of course, as a slight wind blows his for that perfect cover of a romance novel looked of unabashed ruggedness. Somehow, I don’t think parody was the intention of that shot. In fact, the same girls that cheered the opening title now heartily laughed along with the rest of us.

But if Pattinson struggles at first his game steps up in a big way when the vampire royal family the Volturi arrive on the scene during the film’s climax. The sheer delight that Michael Sheen exhibits playing king vampire Aro makes me think that he should get some kind of spin-off deal. Even his sidekick Dakota Fanning transforms herself into a creepy vampire sadist with pain-inducing powers. In the end, the Volturi’s time on screen is ultimately too brief, saving us from too much of Edward’s incessant emo-brooding. After that, the film sputters to a close, while just like the end of Twilight, Bella once again asks Edward to vamp her up, but this time Edward offers her a gaggingly silly counterproposal.

There was some unintended ridiculousness that I could have done without. But overall, New Moon was a satisfying diversion, not just for me, but for its loyal group of teenage and tweenage fans. Definitely though, it’s an improvement over Twilight, love it or hate it. Oh, how I wonder what mysteries await US in Eclipse. Time to hit the books again, I think.