I like fairytales and magical fights and supernatural powers, I honestly do. Just not in the form of the Richard LaGravenese film “Beautiful Creatures.”
Lena Duchannes moves to small, conservative, Southern-city Gatlin, where popular boy Ethan Wate instantly takes interest in her. But as he gets closer to her he notices some strange things, and by falling in mutual love with her he’s pulled into a world full of magic, where female “Casters” (AKA witches) are chosen for either the Light or the Dark.
Lena turns 16 in a few months.
At the very beginning of her move to Gatlin she deals with being ostracized for being part of the Ravenwood family. Even though her surname is different the rumors surrounding her family are enough to blacklist her in the minds of the strictly Catholic popular girls at school.
Ethan swoops in and befriends her despite tainting his own reputation and follows her home, meets her creepy uncle, and then begins to help Lena to be claimed for the Light, despite the odds. They learn about a curse on the Ravenwood family, and Lena has to do research on how to break it.
I rather liked the ending, it wasn’t too perfect but the final scene foreshadowed happiness and romance.
Despite my approval of the ending, the overall film was nothing spectacular. Some scenes and characters were unnecessary, leading me to wonder if the rest of the book series will be made into movies and those characters will have a part then.
A few witty remarks broke up a mostly solemn movie, but at times I found myself cringing at the dialogue. I found one conversation in the car between Ethan and Lena when they first met especially uncomfortable. For being so popular Ethan’s pretty awkward.
In my opinion, this magical movie is a bit Twilight-esque. There’s the obvious Good vs. Evil, the mystical creatures, the family with a story and the forbidden, dangerous love between a mortal and a gifted creature. It wasn’t a bad movie, but it didn’t live up to my expectations, resulting in a 6/10.
Oh, and another thing. Southern accents. To my untrained ear the accents were accurate, you could understand what they were saying and a dialect different from yours isn’t a bad thing, but if you’re not used to every character speaking in a southern accent for a whole movie, it might be a bit…much.
