I just finished watching New Moon, and I thought it was much better than Twilight too. It was the only one of the 4 books that I actually sort of liked, and the movie was a very good adaptation - I kept forgetting my usual disdain for the Twilight series was actually caught up in watching the film.
The effects were decent, I loved Michael Sheen as Aros, and I thought Taylor did a good job, considering how awful most of his dialogue was. Dakota Fanning did well with the little screen time she had too.
I'm still not a fan of Kristen Stewart, but I can't stand that character, so I don't think it helps. Pattinson is ok...he's barely in this one, but I liked the scenes between him and Taylor at the end. Should make the next film interesting.