"New Moon"

In the world of "New Moon," vampires can project themselves into your thoughts and a clan of teenage guys (with an aversion to wearing shirts, even in winter rain) can transform themselves into huge, snarling wolves. But Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) has a weapon that trumps them all; she's got Glower Power, the gift of seeming utterly sullen and tuned-out, no matter what circumstances surround her.

Her reaction at getting birthday presents? Glower. What crosses her face when she's baffled by the Shirtless Six-Pack Sect? Steely-eyed glower. And her response when her sort-of boyfriend Edward (Robert Pattinson) unexpectedly moves out of town? Nuclear-power glower.

In fact, Bella takes the news so badly she stays home and glowers for the next three months -- we know this because titles reading "October," "November" and "December" cross the screen as she sits curled up in a chair doing you-know-what -- while Edward goes off on some sort of vampiric vision quest. Although far away, he does make a few token appearances in the form of a slightly blurry, scolding hallucination, and having to put up with a man who can't even bother to nag her in person makes Bella so angry, she could just...

"New Moon" is the second film adapted from Stephenie Meyer's enormously popular series of supernatural romances and it turns out to be one of those installments that devotes much of its time to setting up characters and plot complications that will hopefully come to dramatic fruition in the final two movies.

Alas, "Moon" is light on excitement and burdened with too many drawn-out scenes devoted to teen turmoil. Not only are they repetitious, they also make you fear for Bella's mental health after a while. Did her dad (Billy Burke) really just sit back and let her wallow in misery week after week, even when she began having nightmares so intense they caused her to scream in her sleep? Can we really believe the tiny town of Forks, Washington can be home to vampires and werewolves but there's not a single therapist to be found?

Director Catherine Hardwicke's "Twilight," the predecessor to "Moon," had a certain endearing air of lunacy, as Bella met Edward and got her first taste of the lifestyle of the undead. "Moon" (Chris Weitz took over the directorial reins this time around) too often tries to position itself as Serious Cinema, beginning with a heavy-handed "Romeo and Juliet" analogy early on and continuing to maintain a resolutely straight face as Bella is drawn to 16-year-old Jacob (Taylor Lautner), who is on the verge of discovering what he thought were just growing pains are actually the signals that he's carrying a gene that links him to an ancient tribe of shape-shifters.

Since Edward thoughtlessly left town at a time when the vengeful vampire Victoria (Rachelle LeFevre) is still hunting for Bella, having a werewolf as a bodyguard might not be such a bad idea. Unfortunately, Jacob's clan and Edward's circle get along almost as well as the Hatfields and the McCoys, and before the sun goes down on this "Moon"-scape Bella finds she's been appointed an unwilling referee in the feud.

Unless you completely identify with Bella's almost unremittingly angsty attitude, "Moon" is far more of a chore to sit through than "Twilight" was. Screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg mercifully drops in an occasional joke or humorous tidbit -- such as when Bella, Jacob and clueless classmate Mike (the very funny Michael Welch) wind up seeing a gruesome action flick titled "Face Punch" -- to break up the general gloominess, and Anna Kendrick, who's about to take the world by storm as George Clooney's protege in "Up in the Air," is a snappy delight here as Bella's fairweather friend. The movie could have used a lot more of her.

There's also a quick jaunt to Italy for a visit with the Volturi, a band of high-living blood-suckers that Edward likens to vampire royalty. The leader, Aro, is played by Michael Sheen and Dakota Fanning makes a cameo as Aro's acolyte Jane, who can paralyze her enemies with pain simply by staring at them; they perform as if they were pleasantly surprised to receive invitations to a really cool costume party. Disappointingly, the members of Edward's extended family, who provided some interesting suplots in "Twilight," are given short shrift here.

Even Pattinson is off-screen for about two-thirds of the all-too-generous 130-minute running time, so it's Lautner who has to provide the eerie eye candy this time out. Although his posters will undoubtedly adorn many a bedroom wall in months to come, Lautner doesn't make the same kind of connection with Stewart that Pattinson did in the first film. He's been wedged into the same sort of role Bill Pullman used to play regularly back in the early 1990s: the compassionate, kind fellow who is obviously not going to have a long-term liaison with the leading lady. Check Weitz's closet: You can be sure there's a Team Edward T-shirt in there somewhere.

Stewart, meanwhile, is straitjacketed by Bella's sheer dreariness. Aside from delivering a couple of out-of-nowhere wisecracks, Bella is worrisomely one-note. When she finally decides to indulge her wild side by riding around with a sleazy biker or diving off cliffs, her expression and mood change so little it's almost laughable. "Moon" delights in depression, at the expense of its storytelling and its heroine's appeal. Remember, even Angela Chase eventually managed to deal with being rejected by Jordan Catalano back in the day; Bella, sweetheart, get help -- we're concerned.