Review of Beautiful Creatures (2013) by Heath C — 07 Oct 2013

She plagued his dreams weeks before she came. He did not know who she was or what she wanted, but he could not get her out of his head... Ethan Wate is 17 years old and lives in a small town named Gatlin. All he has dreamed of his whole life is getting out of this wretched town. After his mother died, he was more determine to leave than ever. He began to apply to "every school at least 1,000 miles away from Gatlin." This was the plan up until he met her. Lena Duchannes moved to Gatlin at the beginning of his junior year. She was the one he kept dreaming of, and he found himself longing to get to know her. She has been in and out of school systems since she was 4 after her parents die. No matter how hard Lena tries to ditch Ethan, their paths are intertwined by destiny. Ethan befriends her soon enough, but he doesn't know what roller coaster ride he is in for. . .

Looking through other reviews this movie did not do well at all. People really knocked it hard because of the movie itself. Often it is referred to as "Tim Burton-Envy" or needing a dash more of Tim Burton to it. It is bashed for visual effects, use of narrative, story line, and Twilightish.

I disagree very much with these. Was it the best movie out there? By far, no way. There are numerous movies I would go see before this one like Inception, Harry Potter, Sherlock, Star Wars. . . You get the picture. There are hundreds of block busters I could go see before this, and they rightly out rank this movie. First, we should look at the studio. Not the best studio in the world. Yes, it is part of WB, but it is made by Alcon Entertainment which is not a widely known studio. They have only made a handful of movies, and out of that handful of movies, I would say only 3 of those movies were block busters. They aren't known for making the next big thing, just great movies that generally do better as DVDs.

Now, I honestly have a soft spot for narratives during a movie. Maybe, it has something to do with being a writer or just loving to read books. I just enjoy a movie containing a good narrative in it. As for the visual effects, I thought they were not too over the top like many movies now days, such as RIPD. They did feel fake at moments, but then again, you have to remember this is fantasy. What else do you expect than fake? I honestly thought they did well with the effects by not relying on them too much.

My main problem was the fact that I did not think Ethan was attractive enough for the role his character filled. He was suppose to be a jock and the popular girl was after him. Just kind of screams super attractive guy, and yet the movie present an awkward looking guy. There were some big names, and I think all the actors did super well with all the characters. I just wish they had done a little more with Ethan's appearances.

This movie was so far from twilight, it is a ridiculous accusation to call it that. Twilight was the worst of the worst especially by the time Breaking Dawn Part 2 comes up. Twilight was a soap opera on steriods. He loves her but she loves him yet she might love him too. Please no. Do not dishonor this movie by calling it twilight. There is no love triangle, and there is no stupid vampires or shape-shifters (which you probably think are werewolves). The plot of Beautiful Creatures is entertaining and witty. It is not all about the love story, but about Lena dealing with who she is and her past. There is a several plot twists which makes it so much better than the overly predictable Twilight.

This movie left me screaming at the ending because they made me believe the opposite of what I desired. I do not know if a sequel to this movie will be released. It depends on the company and box office results. I just know this movie left me yelling (I don't remember the last time I yelled at a movie), and it made me want to go read the book. It may not be the next Harry Potter (if there ever even is one), but that is more than enough for me to call this movie HOT.