Date Night Movie Review - Beautiful Creatures

The beginning of the year is not the best time for movies at the cinema, most of Hollywood at that period seem to be in holding positions, touring the award season circuit, waiting for the Oscars, or bringing their end-of-year blockbusters to DVD. I think you know where this is going? Atala will take it away...

Atala: So, I liked the idea - or at least, I liked what I thought was the idea. A loner comes to ultra-religious town to stay with her creepy uncle, and all kinds of talk of satanic powers start flying around. It certainly sounded like we had a 'Salem' situation on our hands.

Myne: Lol..

Atala: On to other things, I liked the way the film showed the budding friendship between Ethan - a teen whose mother is dead - and Lena - the aforementioned loner. I felt it was a genuine connection, because Ethan himself was portrayed as something of an oddball.

Myne: I agree - but I felt that some of the scenes were a bit of a stretch. It almost seemed as if he was deliberately putting himself in harm's way. I mean, who goes to a satanist's house, has a spell cast on them and then goes back the next day?


Atala: that's looooooooove, my dear

Myne: hmmm... young love eh? ok o. But it doesn't matter - it got intense along the line, which was what I wanted. There was some conflict in their relationship and resistance from those around them.

Atala: I also liked the part of the storyline where Lena had to learn to control the special powers that she had. But unfortunately, this was where the story began to fray for me - it became unnecessarily complicated with too many side plots.

Myne: I see what you mean

Atala: That's always the problem with introducing magic into a story. It can make it easy to explain anything away... too easy, in fact. The film ended up spiralling off into various directions, and even the climactic scene didn't really hold so much tension for me in the end. I also didn't really like the hollywood ending that the film opted for. I did like the costumery that Lena's family adopted, but I felt that many of the characters were seriously underused.

Myne: I completely agree with the costumes and the color and imagery employed for some scenes. The Hollywood ending was saved by some sacrifice, but yeah, it removed some points from the film for me. What about the characters? The acting was OK, I think.

Atala: I liked Ethan's character; he was portrayed as a funny guy with a quirky sense of humour.

Myne: my favorite was Emma Thompson as Serafin. She played a dual role and she nailed it.

Atala: She was good. I was surprised to see her cast in such a role, though - I'm more used to seeing her act Britisher than British roles.

Myne: Lena was OK - she could've been better.

Atala: i also liked Jeremy Irons as Lena's uncle. But apart from those characters, I don't think there were any others that stood out for me.

Myne: yeah, that's basically it. I give the movie a 3.5

Atala: I'd give it a 3.25, but we don't do quarters, so I'll round it down to 3.