Beautiful Creatures Movie Review

Posted by Charmaine Blake on Feb 13th, 2013 in Adapted from a Book, Fantasy, New Releases, Romance | 0 comments

Beautiful Creatures Movie Review

Beautiful Creatures is about to hit cinemas on Valentine’s Day! A fantasy/romance story about two young couples: Lena Duchanness (played by Alice Englert) and Ethan Wate (Alden Ehrenreich). The only catch in this would-be-beautiful love story is Lena possesses strange powers that have long been part of her family’s ancestry. They are Casters and Lena is down to the wire because on her sixteenth birthday, fate will claim her either to the Dark or Light. Beautiful Creatures also stars Viola Davis (The Help), Emma Thompson (Nanny McPhee), Jeremy Irons (Die Hard With A Vengeance) and Emmy Rossum (The Phantom of the Opera (2004)). This new movie is directed by Richard LaGravanese adapted from the book written by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. Check out the movie review written by Peter DeBruge for Beautiful Creatures below:

“Beautiful Creatures: A Stunning Story On Film

Southern goth-chic gets a swoony supernatural makeover in “Beautiful Creatures,” a teen franchise-starter that suggests what “Twilight” might have looked like with a reasonable budget, a competent script and halfway-decent special effects, but still saddled with next-best source material. Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl’s book, the first of four, reps a calculated synthesis of proven YA-lit elements and recent publishing success tactics, which makes for ingratiating storytelling on the page. Fortunately, writer-director Richard LaGravenese has jettisoned most of the novel and refashioned its core mythology and characters into a feverishly enjoyable guilty pleasure, unapologetic in its mass-market rebel ‘tude.

Though “Beautiful Creatures” has what it takes to support a series — a “gifted” girl, a smitten guy and powerful evil forces determined to keep them apart — the film could face trouble winning over cynical young auds who view it as the latest shameless attempt to cash in on the fantasy craze, which of course it is. And yet, now that the “Twilight” and Harry Potter series have run their course, the timing seems right for a soapy romance in which a sensitive small-town hunk (Alden Ehrenreich) falls hard for the new girl in town, not really minding that she’s a witch — or “caster,” as they prefer to be called here.

With a dark-haired, pale-skinned look more likely to inspire 1920s audiences than today’s supermodel-obsessed tastes, Alice Englert (“Ginger and Rosa”) brings a refreshingly relatable quality to the role of 15-year-old Lena Duchannes, who’s moved to dead-end Gatlin, S.C., after things got out of control at her last school. Lena wants to keep a low profile while counting down the days until her 16th birthday, when a family curse predicts she will be “claimed” as a dark witch, but Ethan recognizes her as the mysterious girl he’s been dreaming about for months, and insists on getting to know this melancholy stranger.

The best young-adult offerings tap into deeper themes that resonate with teens, but this one trades mostly in dopey wish fulfillment, granting magical powers and a devoted admirer to girls who imagine themselves as outsiders. It’s about feeling different, having a secret and discovering that special soulmate in whom one can confide. With his heavy brow knit in an expression of deep concern, Ehrenreich looks the way a young Orson Welles might if cast on a CW series, with a plucky Southern accent in place of a sonorous radio voice.”

The rest of the review can be read at Variety

Experience a supernatural love story this February 14th 2013 with Beautiful Creatures in theaters near you!

Check out the news on the upcoming film “The Wolverine Starring Hugh Jackman” right in this blog

Charmaine Blake loves movies, musical theater listening to music and taking pictures of anything that she finds interesting. She is a voracious reader and writer, and enjoys her time writing for New Movie Launches. Charmaine loves spending time with her pets and currently has a Siberian Husky, a toy poodle and a cat.