Beautiful Creature Movie Review

Last week, I had the wonderful opportunity to see a early screening of the new Beautiful Creatures movie that comes out today. I was able to attend with Marissa of Rae Gun Ramblings and some other members of the book club.

Beautiful Creatures is about the relationship between two high school students Lena Duchanees and  Ethan Wate. Ethan hates the small town life he is forced to live and has spent his days planning all of the places he is going to go after he leaves town, that is, until he meets Lena. Lena moves into town to stay with her uncle and Ethan and Lena are drawn together. Ethan learns that Lena is a Caster, with incredible powers, that will either be claimed for good or evil on her sixteenth birthday. If she is claimed for good, she will remain the Lena he loves, but if she is claimed for evil, everything they both know about the world will change.

I always walk into a movie that is based on a book with a certain understanding that there just isn’t enough time to convey every line from a book on film. Even with that in mind, the Beautiful Creatures movie just kind of lost the story somewhere.

I really liked the movie, all up until the last twenty minutes. I watched trailers beforehand absolutely convinced they had the casting all wrong, but I was pleasantly surprised. I liked they way they portrayed both Ethan and Lena and I loved that Lena wasn’t super model pretty and I absolutely loved Emmy Rossum as Ridley.

They did leave out a major character, which I was sad about, but I didn’t ruin the book or the story line from the book. I felt like for most of the movie, the changes weren’t terrible. They were changes that anybody trying to shorten a book into a movie has to make until the end. I am not sure there is even a way to describe the end. After the credits starting rolling, Marissa and I turned to each other and burst out laughing. How could they get it so wrong? Did the screen writer not finish the book? After watching the movie, I’d say that is a possibility. For some reason, they felt the need to completely re-write the end. Did it ruin the movie? For some one who has never read the book, I am sure the movie seemed to flow just fine, but as someone who has read the book, my jaw dropped. If I was the author I would be ticked about what they did to my work.

So all in all, I did like the movie. I was really disappointed that they felt the need to re-write the end, but the movie was still laugh out loud funny in some parts and gripping in others. I’d watch it again, but I might have to put my hand over my eyes at the end.