Beautiful Creatures (The Movie)

Beautiful Creatures on the Silver Screen 

Never judge a book by its movie 

- J. W. Eagan

Since the movie is based off the book I will give two reviews.  The first being a review of the movie itself and the second is a review that compares the movie to the book.

1^st Review:

The movie was a cinematic adventure in the afternoon.  The imagery was wonderful; there were spooky scenes, humorous parts (including dialogue and one-liners) and romantic moments.  There was never a dull moment.  The move is fast pace for two hours, and gives the audience a few twist and turns they didn't expect.  While the story line is captivating, the acting was outstanding. 

You genuinely care about the characters and see how strong Lena and Ethan’s friendship is.  It’s definitely not like Twilight and not as over dramatic as the True Blood series on HBO. 

Best scene for me was when Ethan and Lena are fighting.  Lena is worried that if Ethan stays with her he will get hurt, by her mostly.  Ethan is fed up with her moppy attitude and knows she just stressed out.  He dares her to try and hurt him; instead she pushes him against a wooden sign and kisses him.  A few seconds into the kiss, a lightning bolt hits the wooden sign just beside Ethan’s head, and catches fire.

There were only two things I didn't like about the movie. One was the abrupt ending.  I can’t tell you what happens but regardless if you've read the book or just want to see the movie the ending is quick.  If the director was drawing the scene out that long, why not make it a little longer?  The second thing I didn’t like was the over dramatic religious aspect.  Okay, we get it, Gatlin is a religious town with narrow minded people, and we don’t need every side character praying to Jesus or calling Lena a Satanist.

2^nd Review:

The movie compared to the book is a beautiful disaster.  No, I mean it, it was a disaster.  I would go so far to say the book was abused.  There were four characters that were removed, scenes and dialogue that didn't happen in the book and Lena did not cast a memory-erasing spell on Ethan.  Furthermore, the movie over does the religious parts too much.  It was never like that in the book, sure there were moments where Lena’s classmates picked on her but they never openly prayed in the class room for God to protect them from her wickedness.

More examples of things that bothered me.

Ethan doesn't go running/jogging when he can’t sleep.  He doesn't just read the “banned” book he does read comic books.  He plays basketball (and is on the school team) and he isn't a lazy teen.  He helps his great aunts on the weekends (the aunts weren't in the movie – which is understandable) and goes to church with them.  The relationship between Ethan and Lena starts off friendly but in two weeks they’re in love (in the movie).  In the book it took them two months to kiss and start dating.  Time in the movie spans over three and a half months while the book is six months.

Lena has a birthmark in the shape of a crescent moon on her right cheek – pointless, yes, but one thing was forgotten.  When a Caster becomes light or dark their eyes change permanently.   If she becomes a light Castor her eyes become green.  If she goes dark they turn to gold.  So in the movie they only have the dark Casters flash their eyes gold one or two times.  The characters could tell if someone was a dark or light Caster, and that was a big deal but the movie fails to show that.

Oh, I could go on beeeelieve me.  Watching the movie was reviving but the constant comparison of the movie to the book did make it hard to watch.

Final verdict:

If you've read the book tread carefully into the movie theater.  There is a chance you will want to rant and rave about the mistakes to a friend or family member.  However, if you've never read the book feel free to watch the movie.  While I think the book is ten times better I don’t hate the movie.  I loved watching it; I can’t wait for it to come out on DVD so I can buy it and watch it again.  But that doesn't change the fact that, deep down, the book had more to offer and was more engrossing.   I doubt there will be a sequel to Beautiful Creatures (the movie) based on the ending.  And honestly, I’m okay with that.  I’ll stick to the four (long) books and enjoy the movie now and then.