B eautiful Creatures was a surprising movie. I happened upon it by accident and was not expecting anything beyond mildly interesting. I do not follow most teen movies. Twilight was a yawn– The Hunger Games moderately engaging if you consider children murdering children to be entertainment, but this–this was an unexpected encounter.
I am not familiar with the series or the authors Margaret Stohl and Kami Garcia, in fact I had no idea the series existed at all beyond a movie that I had come across. It was obvious from the start that this story was a multilayered structure and I knew, even without being familiar with the work, that it was not going to do justice to the book. The concepts were too complicated, and some of the characters obviously not explored properly. It was no doubt, a huge task to translate to screen. Even so, the story left Twilight in the dust. The main characters were witty and intelligent, while their concerns were both real and unique.
The Romeo and Juliet aspect of the story was the usual hook for the intended audience and it was done with the correct amount of humour and angst. Starring Alden Ehrenreich and Alice Englert as the young lovers it also has an impressive list of supporting actors. Such as Jeremy Irons, Emmy Rosum to name a few.
The ending I found a little trivial, but considering the intended age of the audience it was probably acceptable. While I am not in a position to say if the movie has done justice to the story it has challenged me to find out.
8/10 Better than most.
