Doggone 'New Moon' werewolves

Not being particularly invested in the Twilight Saga, it's taken me a few days to catch this film blog from the Guardian's Ben Child about New Moon's underwhelming werewolves.  Child rightly points out that "werewolves on celluloid have something of a history, and it's a proud one" (see The Wolfman, An American Werewolf in London).

But instead of taking the opportunity to live up to the tradition, and show off the vampire vs. werewolf plotline isn't just a bunch of pretty faces engaged
in a girlfight, New Moon has copped out with a "flash of pixels" transformation. 
Says Child:

The young men simply vanish, and are replaced by their animal counterparts: as a feat of special effects engineering, it's right up there with some of Dr Who's worst moments, and this from a film with a reported $50m budget.
 Snap!  Child definitely calls it like it is, but is it really surprising?