Beautiful Creatures is a 2013 movie that appears to be just another run of the mill YA film, and in some ways it is, however this movie has a little more depth than it looks.Now I know that I watched this movie a couple of years ago, I think maybe a year after it came out. I didn't really remember much about this movie when I saw it again. Now I just rewatched this movie a little bit ago, and before I rewatched this I thought I would just tear into this movie for being a generic teen film. After watching this movie, my opinion changed dramatically.
Now to give some context, the movie starts out following Ethan, a southern teen in a small town living what appears to be an average life. Everything changes when he meets a teen girl, Lena, with magical powers.
In traditional YA fashion, this movie would have a love triangle, one dimensional male primary character, and the main female character would just be "special" but she wouldn't realize it until the love interest showed her that she was. Now, does this movie have a love triangle? No, no it does not. Is the primary male character one dimensional? No, he's an athlete that that loves books, and is interested about the world, and is curious about people and is generally nonjudgemental about others, so, there is more to him than just a regular stereotype. Is the main female character "special" and she doesn't know it? No, well she is special, but she is aware of it and she is perfectly capable of standing on her own two feet.
In most other generic YA films, the two love interests would just fall in love instantly. Yet the movie does something different, by showing Ethan and Lena not falling in love instantly, but over time. And it also show's them actually going on dates, which other generic YA films don't really do. Their romance accumulates over time and I do appreciate that.
One thing I did not expect from this film is that the comedy in this movie is really really good. I mean like, you know those films where you need an audience for the movie to be funny? Well, watching this movie by myself, it's actually funny all by itself, with good situational humor that truly compliments the scene.
Don't get me wrong though there are still many generic YA things about this movie. For example light vs dark. The plot is still a bit basic, but the filmmakers take what is given and they have fun with it and make it a pleasurable film to watch.
Would I recommend seeing Beautiful Creatures? Yes, I believe that I would. I honestly enjoyed this film and I hope that you do as well.
final score: 3.3/5
Comments
Post a Comment