Review of Beastly (2011) by Manon M — 27 May 2012

The idea was cute and the film has all the potential - but this "Beauty and the Beast" update is a pallid, formulaic teen romance that might have benefited from a little magic. Beastly was made with the mind of a teenage girl: it's the kind of love story a viewer can believe in when she is indiscriminating enough to ignore bad acting, bad writing, and mediocre filmmaking.

The movie's characters are inevitably predictable, the whole plot is with no subtext or subtlety. It is far too corny (and I mean corny in a bad way), and tho the whole "Beauty and the Beast scenario" lives from stereotypes I was hoping that a modern version of this fairy tale would bring a new twist to these clichà (C)s. Well, it doesn', which is a shame because while I was watching "Beastly" I was noticing all the missed opportunities.

Anyway, it surely has its moments that hit you straight in your heart, but they're very rare... still, the idea of transformation, that people can change and learn from their mistakes, growing to be better, makes Beastly not just sweet but also quite hopeful. But at the same time, this is exactly its weakness because this main subject wasn't developped deep and strong enough.

The acting performances weren't very convincing, except for one: Mary Kate Olsen was striking! I would love to see her in a Tim Burton film... Beastly is way too corny for my taste, while it also lacks of tenderness. It manages to show you all the ways it might have worked by missing every available mark... too bad actually, because the film could have really worked due to its potential.

For the next adaptation just ask me, I have tons of ideas how you could give this whole scenario more substance and tenderness :-).