Sortilège

This is one of the cleverest adaptations of a classic fable since "The Nutty Professor" (Jekyll & Hyde). Here in "Beastly" we have an adaptation of "Beauty and the Beast" set in contemporary New York and revolving around the image-obsessed youth of a fashionable High School in the trendy urban district. I know, right? Awesome premise. The execution may not be quite as awesome, but ultimately I think it's a great flick to watch when you're in the mood for a creative morality play.

What makes it work is the depiction of the "Beast". I won't ruin it for you (if the movie posters haven't already), but here, unlike other tellings of the tale which portray the Beast as a majestic animal, we get a Beast who is not only "ugly" in terms of scars and bad skin, but more importantly he is made to look like an outcast. He doesn't look like a literal beast/monster, but instead he looks very human but the kind of human who would make you cross the street to avoid.

In that respect it turns the microscope on ourselves because we the audience are repulsed without any justification. I thought this was a fantastic starting point.

The rest of the film may feel sort of like a predictable teen romance, without much tension or or peril, but it keeps our attention and gives us thoughts which we can apply directly to our lives, unlike typical enchanted fairytales which we approach as pure fantasy.

Beyond the predictable, there's one character who really livened things up and I wish there were more of him: "Will" played by Neil Patrick Harris (yes! Doogie Howser M.D.). Will plays the role of the Beast's sarcastic, wisecracking teacher. This gives the story an element of humor and wisdom at the same time, as Will is sort of the Beast's "Mr. Miagi".

"Beastly" is mostly family-friendly (PG-13 due to some violence and a bit of crude language, though I don't remember hearing any outright profanity). So don't expect a harsh, gritty drama. This film is definitely on the lighter side. Movies I would compare this to include: Penelope (2006) starring Christina Ricci as a girl with a pig snout, or maybe something like Practical Magic (1998) starring Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock as two witches looking for love in a small town. If you like breezy supernatural romances, definitely check this out.

"If he could learn to love another, and earn her love in return by the time the last petal fell, then the spell would be broken. If not, he would be doomed to remain a beast for all time." Disney's Beauty and the Beast

After the Twilight Series, I am Number Four, and now Beastly, I'm not sure I ever want to take that Hot Tub Time Machine back to those love-weary days. I mean, are these kids getting any love these days, or is their passion filtering through cell phones as their fingers do the walking rather than the stroking? Beastly once again shows teen longing relieved by the workings of magic, not old-fashioned getting-to-know you stuff their grandparents labored through.

Kyle (Alex Pettyfer straight from his boring turn as a hunk with little affect in I am Number Four) learns from his distant dad that looks are what count in life. As he imputes this "aggressively-unattractive" characterization to Goth Kendra (Mary-Kate Olsen), she condemns him to being all he hates, largely ugly, until someone says "I love you" to him.

Beauty waiting to be rescued, Lindy (Vanessa Hudgens), falls into the protective custody of now ugly Beast, Hunter (Kyle). And there you have Beauty and the Beast revived for 2011 teens. Dramatically the audience can anticipate every outcome, not just because of the adapted classic's well-worn story, but because the dialogue is pedestrian enough to telescope it all anyway.

The blind tutor, Will (Neil Patrick Harris), has some wry commentary, suited to the off-beat characters Harris usually plays, that saves this adolescent sentimental claptrap from my damnation. I get it that beauty is from within; I just don't buy why all the teens should be hot when most in real life are pimpled and gawky. It's too bad some wizardry couldn't save Beastly from mediocrity—but then I would need resuscitation that I finally had a teen weeper worthy of an audience smarter than filmmakers give them credit.

In the Buckeston Academy High School, the wealthy, arrogant, narcissist and bigot Kyle Kingson (Alex Pettyfer) is a student that does not respect his classmates. When Kyle is elected representative of the students, he plays a prank with the outcast Kendra (Mary-Kate Olsen) that has the fame of being a witch. He invites her to a party and humiliates her in front of their classmates. However, Kendra curses him with a spell that makes Kyle as ugly as his soul. Further, she tells that if he does not find anyone who loves him within a year, he will be doomed to that appearance forever.

When Kyle's father Rob Kingson (Peter Krause) sees him, he takes Kyle to specialists but the doctors do not know what to do. So Rob hides Kyle in an apartment with a maid and a blind tutor. When Kyle sees his mate Lindy (Vanessa Hudgens) on the streets, he saves her from a dangerous drug dealer and he brings her to his apartment to protect her. Now his only hope is that Lindy falls in love with him.

"Beastly" is a contemporary teen-version of "The Beauty and the Beast". The ridiculous make-up on Alex Pettyfer is the weakest part of the film. Vanessa Hudgens is not a beautiful actress and is very weak for the lead role. Further, she does not show any chemistry with Alex Pettyfer. The plot is weird and the way that Lindy is forced to move to the Hunter's apartment through blackmail of her father does not convince.

The plot has many flaws but "Beastly" is neither the best nor the worst romance recently released and there are many unfair reviews in IMDb. Despite the flaws, this film actually entertains on DVD. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "A Fera" ("The Beast")

The plot was great, being though it was the modern take on beauty and the beast. However, the script was terrible. Everything seemed so rushed.

Kyle wasn't even arrogant long enough. He made one or two rude comments and next thing you know he turned beastly. In fact I didn't realize he was being rude until like seconds to minutes later. That's how cheesy his lines were. And on top of that, he started falling in love with her before he was turned beastly which totally contradicts the whole point of him being that way. He's supposed to be ugly inside and out.

Liddy or, whatever her name is, wasn't turned off by him like Belle was in the animated version. She couldn't stand him whereas Liddy liked him from the beginning. She called him a jerk once but that didn't even sound convincing. So corny. The fight scene where Kyle calls himself saving her was so bad I was nearly in tears from laughing. What a shame because the concept of the movie was so awesome and this could've been a really great movie.

Bottom line, it was a waste of money, gas and time. I could've waited until this came out on Netflix. Sorry but this movie was just terrible!

My girls begged me to take them to see this movie as they are big fans of Vanessa Hudgens, Alex Pettyfer and Mary-Kate Olsen. As young teenagers of 13, they both loved the movie and would rate it 9 out of 10. I however, will rate it a 6. My favourite character was Neil Patrick Harris (Will), the blind tutor.... he made me laugh at almost all the scenes he was in.

I did enjoy some of the characters, and Vanessa was very convincing as Lindy, and played her part well. I enjoyed Mary-Kate's character as, Kendra. It was fun seeing her in a different acting role then the many years of having watched her on Full House and all those cute Olson Twin movies. So all in all, I enjoyed my evening out with my girls. Please keep in mind that we did not know this movie was based on a book, which is probably why my girls enjoyed it so much.