100 Movie Challenge 2014 - # 38: Beautiful Creatures

Director: Richard LaGravenese
Genre: Drama/ Fantasy/ Romance
Runtime: 124 minutes
Year: 2013
Starring: Alice Englert, Alden Ehrenreich, Emma Thompson, Emmy Rossum, Jeremy Irons, Viola Davis, Thomas Mann, Kyle Gallner

Description: Ethan (Alden Ehrenreich) longs to escape his small Southern town. He meets a mysterious new girl, Lena (Alice Englert). Together, they uncover dark secrets about their respective families, their history and their town.

Review: Supernatural teen romances are a real hype and young fans of dark fantasy get exactly what they want. If the whole film was better executed it would have reached a broader audience.
Teenagers Ethan and Lena are the beating heart of the story. Ethan lives in a small community in the state of South Carolina. He doesn’t want to be there and doesn’t want to belong to the petty community. Then he meets Lena who, as an unconventional newcomer, doesn’t belong there either. Lena has magical powers which puts the love between the two in jeopardy.
The two leading characters, although not very well known, are the power of the film. They are convincing together and it never gets too ‘sweet’. The supporting roles are less successful. Jeremy Irons and especially Emma Thompson don’t seem to belong in this film. Where Irons, as Lena’s eccentric uncle Macon, gets away with his portrayal at times, Thompson is sometimes more caricatured.
Another weakness is the background of the ‘casters’. Although director Richard LaGravenese has simplified it, it’s still a bit confusing. Especially when you never read the book it’s based on. And Lena is supposed to be the mightiest caster in progress, but she doesn’t really show that.
“Beautiful Creatures” isn’t a bad movie but with more guts it could have been a more intelligent version of “Twilight”.

Rating: 2,5/ 5