Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Beautiful Creatures-- Not Your Typical Southern Belles/Beaus...


 
"Lena, you're a miracle. Why would you ever want to be normal?"
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Beautiful Creatures, where the Stereotypical South is mixed in with some some magical twists. I give this film a six out of ten. Knowing this movie is based off a young-adult series I’m glad to finally see the supernatural craze in media and movies turn away from vampires, werewolves and shape shifters to people with powers. It brings the term witch, which is usually portrayed negatively in society into a more acceptable and light term called ‘caster’. Set in Gatlin, South Carolina a small town full of overly zealous Christians and smothering rules like banning books.
            As most young-adults novels go there is the main character Ethan Wate, (Alden Ehrenreich) a young, independent free thinker who can’t wait venture past the town border to college and escapes the mediocrity of his small town by reading every banned book he can get his hands on, including Kurt Vonnegut and Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead, which shows the power of knowledge can lead anyone to see the world beyond what we believe it to be.
            His obstacle to obtaining that freedom is the fascination with the new girl in town, Lena Duchannes (Alice Englert) who’s living with her uncle and the town’s shut in, Macon Ravenwood (Jeremy Irons).  With almost laughable southern accents and typical hatred for the ‘outsider’ everyone in the town is ready to kick Lena out for being associated with Macon, who they believe is a devil worshiper. To further the plot along strange things with the weather and at school happen once Lena arrives and its Ethan’s curiosity of this mysterious girl that propels you into this life of danger, secrets and life changing decisions. Basically, every teen goes through that awkward stage of trying to figure out who they are but this book series made into movie takes it to the supernatural level.
            The acting was well done, I really enjoyed the main characters and their interactions, the chemistry was there and the build up on the relationship between Lena and Ethan is just right, especially when she exposes her world to him and all the secrets it entails. The scenes that were centered around magic and powers were done tastefully and not as overly stereotypical like a Harry Potter movie with wands and such. Power comes from within the person and their energy of anger, stress, or grief, etc. and causes a reaction and it is a refreshing change in scenery regarding magic in storylines.
            The storyline starts off innocent enough but there are enough twists near the second half of the film to keep you intrigued and wondering what will the end result be and it even shocked me! What bothered me the most was the editing. One moment you can be in the library with Ethan and Lena and the next they are walking away from her car in the middle of the road fighting. It took me out of the moment and that wasn’t the first time I noticed it throughout the film, at least three times. As much as the editing could have been sharper overall the screenplay writer and director Richard LaGravenese did a great job making this magical teen novel come to life. 

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