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I went into this movie not expecting much. I've never read the series, but I heard it was an awful adaptation. Even without having read the books, the movie disappointed me on so many levels. I can't even begin to imagine how fans of the books felt while watching this movie. I hope to someday read the books, at which point, I will completely block this movie out of my mind.
First, there's the insta-love that is so incredibly not convincing. Insta-love rarely works, both in books and in movies, and this was no exception. I don't know how the relationship evolved in the books, but it seems as if Ethan is in one moment wary of Lena and the next moment, utterly in love with her. I couldn't feel any real spark or connection between the two. Sure, Ethan was curious about Lena, but he was far from loving her. Besides, the whole star-crossed lovers thing wasn't appealing. Their love just felt rushed and fake, and I couldn't find it in myself to root for their relationship, at least until the very end.
On a similar note, it took me a long time to become invested in any of the characters and to the story in general. While there was insta-love, the world building was next to none. They barely explained the world of the Casters and the characters/people involved. It was minimal and rushed when it was actually present. The characters lacked depth, save for one or two, and I couldn't root for most of them. I didn't feel anything towards the characters, and I think almost all of the characters could have been explored more. There's so much complexity that could be involved, and this movie just fell flat on that front.
In a similar manner, many characters were simply plot-devices that didn't offer much else to the story. I hate when that happens! Just like in books when you cut out scenes that don't move the story forward, why include a character if you're just going to use them and then discard them? This bothers me to no end, and this was very clear in this movie, more-so than in most movies I've watched.
So what saved this from being a complete wreck? Well, somehow, the movie was enough to allow me to watch it to the end. By the end, I was starting to feel invested in the story and in the characters. I finally felt as if something was happening, and I felt like there was finally some character growth and deep emotion. All in all though, this movie fell extremely flat, and I definitely won't be bothering to watch the other movies if there are any.
Beautiful Creatures
Directed by: Richard LaGravenese
Written by: Richard LaGravenese, based on Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
Cast: Alden Ehrenreich, Alice Englert, Jeremy Irons, Emmy Rossum, Viola Davis, Thomas Mann, Emma Thompson, and more
Release Date: February 14th, 2013
As one who read and watched this story. I thought it was pretty. But I found out some stuff that made me regret seeing it and supporting the movie. Alice Englert aka Lena announced that she didn't care about the fans. She even walked out of a signing in LA. I was so disappointed to hear that, fans are everything on whether a franchise does well or not. It's a good thing I found out about this just recently, or else I definitely wouldn't have gone to see it.
ReplyDeleteI think the problem this movie had was that the secondary characters were big celebrities compared to Ethan and Lena. If you want a franchise to succeed you need big people as your main characters. Because if you don't, you're not attracting anyone outside the fanbase.
I think the setting/background/sets were pretty, but there was a lot about this movie that didn't work for me. But oh man, I didn't know about that. That's just so wrong. SMH.
DeleteHmmm, that's true. I don't necessarily agree that you always need big people as main characters, but perhaps for this movie, it would have worked better that way. Sometimes, the right person for the role isn't a big name actor/actress, but sometimes a movie needs those big names. At the very least, the secondary characters and their actors/actresses could draw in SOME people. It's a tough thing to gauge.