Beastly

2011 Drama

A curse transforms a handsome and arrogant young man into everything he detests in this contemporary retelling of Beauty and the Beast. Wealthy Kyle Kingson (Alex Pettyfer) has everything a teenager could want in life, but he still gets off on humiliating the weaker and less attractive. When Kyle invites his misfit classmate Kendra (Mary-Kate Olsen) to an environmental rally at their school, she questions his motivations but reluctantly accepts. Later, Kyle blows Kendra off, prompting the spurned goth girl to cast a dark spell on the swaggering egotist. The spell causes Kyle to transform into an unsightly creature that strikes fear into the heart of everyone he meets, and the only way to reverse it is for him to find someone who can love him for who he is on the inside. Subsequently sent by his repulsed father to live in Brooklyn, Kyle forges a tenuous friendship with his kindly housekeeper (Lisa Gay Hamilton) and his blind tutor (Neil Patrick Harris). When Kyle witnesses a drug addict in a desperate struggle with a menacing dealer, he intervenes, promising to protect the addict under the condition that his beautiful daughter, Lindy (Vanessa Hudgens), comes to live with the unsightly recluse in his sprawling Brooklyn home. Over time, the two forge a relationship that grows much deeper than anything Kyle has ever experienced before. more..

Director: Daniel Barnz

Starring: Alex Pettyfer, Vanessa Hudgens, Mary-Kate Olsen, Neil Patrick Harris, Eric Knudsen

Reviews

  • I liked this movie, maybe more than I should have, and would be happy to see anything this director wants to do next.

    Mick LaSalle - The San Francisco Chronicle

    26 April 2013

  • Beastly, for all its potential pitfalls, works better than it has any right to. Credit Barnz, who keeps his young characters contemporary in a world of text messaging and status updates and yet also gives them depth.

    Howard Cohen - Miami Herald

    26 April 2013

  • Beastly manages to show you all the ways it might have worked by missing every available mark, sometimes by the gaping expanse between Alex Pettyfer's ears, sometimes only by the feline curl of Vanessa Hudgens' smile.

    Michelle Orange - Movieline

    26 April 2013

  • All good humor must come to an end, and a love story has to be able to fall back on tenderness and sweetness eventually. Unfortunately, every time Beastly reaches for either of those things, it's ... really bad.

    - NPR

    26 April 2013

  • It's dogged by awkward dialogue, a ridiculous plot and lackluster performances, especially by the leads.

    Claudia Puig - USA Today

    26 April 2013

Awards

  • Choice Movie Breakout: Male

    Teen Choice Awards (2011)