“Beautiful Creatures,” an adaptation of a young adult novel,
exists because of the success of the Twilight
novels/movies. The characters spend more time explaining the story than acting
it out, which means there’s a problem with the script. Writer/director Richard
LaGravenese mixes some whimsy, a little Gothic horror, and a touch of fantasy
with varying success. But the main problem is, this movie is boring although
Jeremy Irons and Emma Thompson seem to have fun overacting.
Newcomers Alden Ehrenreich and Alice Englert play Ethan Wate
and Lena Duchannes, who turns out to be a ‘caster,’ another name for a witch.
Her uncle Macon (Irons) discourages their romance, for on Lena’s 16th
birthday, she may turn evil, especially if she loves a mortal. Lena’s mother,
Serafine (Thompson), however, seems to revel in her nastiness. Ehrenreich plays Ethan too wide-eyed and
goofy. Englert (daughter of director Jane Campion) is better, but she doesn’t
have much screen presence. “Beautiful Creatures” hopes to take up where Twilight ended, with the other three
books in the series. You have to hope that if there’s another, it will be more
interesting. 2/15/13
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