With the final dawn having now set on the Twilight Saga, tweens and teens alike are searching for a new supernatural romance to satiate their eternal hunger (as is Hollywood). Enter Beautiful Creatures, a tale about a soon to be 16 year old castor (read witch) named Lena and her mortal love interest Ethan.
By Keeva Stratton.
Set in the mysterious, deeply Christian South, Lena is new in town, but is linked to one of the older Wiccan families and therefore considered a devil worshipper. She is outcast by her schoolmates and is quickly labelled a freak.
Ethan, the former prom queen dating jock, is bored with the regular female offerings and takes an immediate interest in this out of the ordinary new girl. They soon fall in love, but when he discovers that not only does she belong to a family of witches, but she herself may turn pretty darn evil on her sixteenth birthday—things understandably get a little complicated.
When the film is good, it really shines. The lines are intelligent and witty, and the characters are fresh. It nicely references Bukowski, Kerouac, Harper Lee and others—giving hope that today’s pop culture can continue to be cleverly shaped by the great commentators and influencers of adolescence past.
While the leads are played by relative unknowns, the supporting cast is well stocked, with the likes of Viola Davis (The Help) and British screen legends Emma Thompson and Jeremy Irons rounding out the adult characters.
Sadly though, the film is patchy, oftentimes losing its momentum and suffering from lapses in cohesiveness. When it is blunt or overcooked, it is disappointingly so. Still, after the cinematic banality that was the Twilight series, it is nice to see that some attempt has been made to bring a better quality of screen making to these lustful moral/immortal dilemmas that resonate so strongly with this generation coming of age.
If you’re looking for a fantasy teenage romance, I think Ethan wins over Edward hands down, and Beautiful Creatures would be worth checking out.
Directed by: Richard LaGravenese
Starring: Alice Englert, Viola Davis, Emma Thompson, Jeremy Irons
Rating: M
Runtime: 124mins
Release Date: 21 Feb
Reviewer rating: 3/5
