New director Chris Weitz ("The Golden Compass") injects more humor and visual style than Catherine Hardwicke did in the original, but "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" sags and lags like the first one as it senselessly runs on for more than two hours.
The film especially stumbles when the friendship between that vampire-lovin' Bella (a strong Kristen Stewart) and wolf-boy Jacob (Taylor Lautner) starts to heat up.
With sullen Edward (Robert Pattinson) literally out of most of the picture -- in an attempt to avoid his Bella bloodlust -- the romantic burden falls on the insanely broad shoulders of Lautner to perform pretty boy duties.
Lautner looks spectacular shirtless, and will undoubtedly make many tween hearts flutter. But he might have considered spending more time beefing up that acting muscle rather than perfecting his impeccable six-pack abs.
He and Stewart do have a nice chemistry at the start, but when Jacob reveals he's actually a wolf in tight clothing the script requires the actor to show some range of emotion, and it's no longer pretty to behold. Lautner doesn't have the acting chops of Pattinson.
Weitz and screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg ("Twilight" and TV's "Dexter") do their darndest to spruce up the material with clever references to "Romeo and Juliet" and "Little Red Riding Hood."
They even poke fun at the "Twilight" story. WhenJacob exp lains to Bella why he's hanging with his buff wolf buddies, who frolic shirtless together, he emotes: "It's not a lifestyle choice." Cute.
When Bella hops on a plane to chase after Edward in Italy, she's on Virgin Atlantic. Nice.
These touches, along with key supporting performances from Michael Sheen ("Frost/Nixon) as head of a vampire mob and scene-stealer Anna Kendrick as Bella's verbose friend, make "New Moon" shine bright.
"The Twilight Saga: New Moon"
Starring: Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner, Ashley Greene, Kellan Lutz, Dakota Fanning, Michael Sheen
Director: Chris Weitz
Rating: PG-13
Running Time: 2 hours, 10 minutes
Where: Opens midnight today at area theaters
**1/2
This article is from www.mercurynews.com
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