Beautiful Creatures
A young man is drawn to a mysterious young girl who moves to his small town and stumbles on a crypt of her family secrets in this adapation of Kami Carcia and Margaret Stohl's series of novels.
Director: Richard LaGravenese
Starring: Alden Ehrenreich, Alice Englert, Emma Thompson, Viola Davis, Emmy Rossum
Maybe there really are supernatural forces at work in this world. How else to explain Beautiful Creatures? The movie is an intriguing, intelligent enigma - three words not typically associated with teen romances.
Beautiful Creatures has its metaphysical cosmology worked out, and it gives it to us in doses big enough that we understand its rules and believe in its world, but not so big that it starts to get cute or that we stop caring.
Beautiful Creatures, more than the "Twilight" films, lacks danger and momentum. The audience, like Ethan, spends way too much time waiting around for Lena to learn whether she's a good girl or a bad girl.
Lead actor Ehrenreich conveys a spirited charm, while Englert, the object of his affections, is more blandly self-contained.
Beautiful Creatures springs to life whenever Irons, Thompson or Rossum is centerstage. The grown-ups get to wear all the coolest costumes and spout all the juiciest lines. Problem is, this isn't their story. It's first and foremost a semi-plodding teen romance with supernatural overtones.
No awards
No lists