Beautiful Creatures (2013)
Beautiful Creatures (2013)
Directed by Richard LaGravenese
Starring Alden Ehrenreich, Alice Englert, Jeremy Irons, Viola Davis, Emmy Rossum, Emma Thompson, Thomas Mann, and Kyle Gallner
Based on the novels by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl and screenplay by Richard LaGravenese
I am a Southern girl at heart. Give me a bottle of Coke and a Moon Pie and I'm a happy girl. Boiled peanuts aren't bad, either. I've never been to the South, but from what I've seen in the movies, it's a beautiful place full of mystery (or a crazy place with lots of inbreeding, depending on where you go). When I saw the preview for Beautiful Creatures, a supernatural teen romance that takes place in the antebellum whirlwind of (fictional) Gatlin, South Carolina, I prepared myself for Twilight meets Witches of Eastwick meets Gone with the Wind. Unfortunately, I forgot the cardinal rule of movies based on books - the movie is NEVER like the book.
First, if you get the opportunity before seeing the movie, read the book. Then you'll understand what I say when I tell you the movie was incredibly choppy, so much so that many of the major plot points are completely lost. You'll also come to understand which events are out of sequence and why that even matters.
I'm not even going to bother typing my own description of the plot. I'll just rely on IMDB this time:
Ethan longs to escape his small Southern town. He meets a mysterious new girl, Lena. Together, they uncover dark secrets about their respective families, their history and their town.
Simple enough, right? We'll go with it.
My problems with the movie was that a lot (and I mean A LOT) was either taken out of sequence, changed entirely, or completely skipped. We're talking about things that are important to the storyline, like the various references to the connections between Ethan's family and Lena's family. Even characters were missing. Not to mention the romance was over-played. We get it, they're soulmates.
I DID like the special effects, the costumes and the casting wasn't bad. The story-telling in the flashbacks was decent, but I think more of the story could have been told. I'm sure the filmmakers left out a lot because Beautiful Creatures is part of a series and they want to see how the first did in box office take before continuing. I hope that if there are more films, they do more backstory.
All in all, I'd say this is a decent movie if you're just looking for something for entertainment, but I don't exactly think it's award winning. It's along the same lines as the Twilight films - Teen Choice Awards, but probably not Oscar-worthy.
Here's a featurette on taking the story from the page to the big screen:
Directed by Richard LaGravenese
Starring Alden Ehrenreich, Alice Englert, Jeremy Irons, Viola Davis, Emmy Rossum, Emma Thompson, Thomas Mann, and Kyle Gallner
Based on the novels by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl and screenplay by Richard LaGravenese
I am a Southern girl at heart. Give me a bottle of Coke and a Moon Pie and I'm a happy girl. Boiled peanuts aren't bad, either. I've never been to the South, but from what I've seen in the movies, it's a beautiful place full of mystery (or a crazy place with lots of inbreeding, depending on where you go). When I saw the preview for Beautiful Creatures, a supernatural teen romance that takes place in the antebellum whirlwind of (fictional) Gatlin, South Carolina, I prepared myself for Twilight meets Witches of Eastwick meets Gone with the Wind. Unfortunately, I forgot the cardinal rule of movies based on books - the movie is NEVER like the book.
First, if you get the opportunity before seeing the movie, read the book. Then you'll understand what I say when I tell you the movie was incredibly choppy, so much so that many of the major plot points are completely lost. You'll also come to understand which events are out of sequence and why that even matters.
I'm not even going to bother typing my own description of the plot. I'll just rely on IMDB this time:
Ethan longs to escape his small Southern town. He meets a mysterious new girl, Lena. Together, they uncover dark secrets about their respective families, their history and their town.
Simple enough, right? We'll go with it.
My problems with the movie was that a lot (and I mean A LOT) was either taken out of sequence, changed entirely, or completely skipped. We're talking about things that are important to the storyline, like the various references to the connections between Ethan's family and Lena's family. Even characters were missing. Not to mention the romance was over-played. We get it, they're soulmates.
I DID like the special effects, the costumes and the casting wasn't bad. The story-telling in the flashbacks was decent, but I think more of the story could have been told. I'm sure the filmmakers left out a lot because Beautiful Creatures is part of a series and they want to see how the first did in box office take before continuing. I hope that if there are more films, they do more backstory.
All in all, I'd say this is a decent movie if you're just looking for something for entertainment, but I don't exactly think it's award winning. It's along the same lines as the Twilight films - Teen Choice Awards, but probably not Oscar-worthy.
Here's a featurette on taking the story from the page to the big screen:
Click to view