REVIEW: Beastly

PLOT: A modern-day take on the "Beauty and the Beast" tale where a New York teen is transformed into a hideous monster in order to find true love.

REVIEW: Beastly just kind of showed up at my house earlier this week unexpectedly, as I have no idea how it made it to the top of my queue that is nearly 300 movies long. However, I was always intrigued by the basic story that is modeled after the classic tale of Beauty and the Beast, most commonly known in its Disney form. There really isn't much to draw my attention to this movie besides two things, the one being what I've just mentioned about the good concept of a modern-day telling of Beauty and the Beast. The second draw to this film I had is that one of the stars of the film is Neil Patrick Harris, whom I've recently taken a liking to after watching him play Barney Stinson on TV's How I Met Your Mother. To counter those two draws to the film, there were several drawbacks, one of which being the same as what drew me to the movie. There's something about the possibility of a clever re-telling coming out of a modern day version of this story, but much like many other adaptations of classic stories, it can all go very wrong if not treated correctly. Unfortunately the latter is the case here, as I didn't find that Beastly even had all that much in terms of a quality story that pulls on the emotions like the classic story does.

The star of Beastly is a supposed up and coming star, Alex Pettyfer who has had a great year of 2011 with this film and his other leading role in I Am Number Four. It has been a big year for the actor I'm sure, but as for both movies I'm sure they didn't do much damage even if they were totaled together in the box office. I have yet to see I Am Number Four, nor have I seen Pettyfer's only other recognizable role in Alex Rider: Operation Stormbreaker, which also starred him in the leading role. From what I saw in Beastly, Pettyfer doesn't really prove himself entirely in the sense that his acting could provide him a lifetime career but I do see him sticking around at least for the next few years as he's not that terrible. When compared to other younger actors of today he really doesn't seem all that bad, and when asked to play the pompous asshole student of a high school class, I'm sure he gave it his best. Not once did I find myself thinking that the film would've been any different or better with another lead actor, but rather the execution of the "transformation" could've helped it.

When Pettyfer goes through his transformation from human to "Beast", there's a handful of character traits lost in the mix and I wasn't quite able to wrap my head around it. The character Kyle that he plays in the beginning is an extremely vain high school student, that can't seem to hold back in saying whatever he wants, whenever he wants. Also, another thing is that he seems unstoppable in the sense that he has no regret for anything he does, and he basically gets whatever he wants. The thing is, I would expect that even though he's transformed into this hideous being, "Beast", he would still remain this same person, at least in the beginning. Where there would normally be extreme frustration and anger, along with a sense of entitlement that he always had, there was absolutely nothing to indicate who he was before this transformation. As soon as he's transformed into this cursed self of his who he appropriately names Hunter, he loses all of these qualities that he once possessed in an instant. The hiding of his face and new being in the shadows of a hoodie and hanging out in the dark gets across the point that he's ashamed of who he is now, but there's never any indication that there was this Kyle, before the "Beast". I kept finding myself wondering, is this even supposed to be the same person? But instead of focusing on the character continuity, they were more focused on making him look Beastly which they definitely did pretty well. All in all Pettyfer's performance was great with what he was given, but again I'm just not entirely sure why the character of Kyle was completely lost behind the makeup of Hunter as it was kind of the point of the story, to conquer himself.

Starring alongside Pettyfer is Vanessa Hudgens who ends up being the "Beauty" of the film, and definitely is a very likable romantic interest for our "Beast". Even though it's pretty easy to hate the character of Kyle at the beginning, he eventually grows on you as you realize he's becoming more and more lost behind his new appearance. Hudgens plays Lindy, who always seemed to talk to Kyle despite her better judgement and is a very free spirited character. Hudgens works in the role simply off of looks and the way she carries herself as a girly girl that's just looking to have fun. Also, finding her sappy personal love story is a very obvious character trait for Lindy, which is only one of many very typical things found throughout the run-time of Beastly. Really the only other major player in this film is Mary-Kate Olsen, who plays the gothic and evil-looking Kendra that is part of his high school class. When she's introduced in the beginning of the film, her outfit and appearance seem pretty over-the-top as I'm sure what she was wearing would never be allowed in any school. But the speech also given by Kyle at the beginning of the film would never happen as well, which is what prompts the character of Kendra to place this evil spell on Kyle in which he has to have someone say "I love you" to him, before a year is up.

The story is very simple, Kyle is cursed by Kendra because of his vanity and self-righteousness over everyone in their high school class, thus being forced to find someone to love him before his timed year is up. There's obviously been several tales much like this one, all being done in their own separate ways and from trailers I thought Beastly at least looked a slight bit unique. But when the film is as poorly executed as it is, it's really hard to buy into it as being the true modern day telling of the classic story. There are a lot of problems that I had with the film in this department, as the story never really seems to develop within the characters whatsoever. There's a good half hour or so in the middle of the film in which "Hunter" is spending unbelievable amounts of time stalking around for his new lover Lindy, which is of course accompanied by a painful indie rock soundtrack.

Which leads to my second biggest problem with the film besides the execution of the "Beast" transformation, and that would be that there were way too many music montage scenes for my liking. This kid goes from riches to rags in an instant, even further than rags some could say, but I don't need a depressing emo, indie rock song to tell me that he is upset about it. This time could've been more efficiently used to develop these characters into something a little more unique than cut-outs of the old tale, to give us that truly clever and unique modern day telling. But when half of your movie consists of scenes accompanied by music for the audience, which I assume that most of the songs that played are popular with what I would imagine being Beastly's demographic, I can't hardly bear to watch it. These music montage scenes are a waste of time, and especially when they're bountifully spread throughout this entire film, it is really hard to just let go.

Aside from all the neutrality on the already mentioned cast, and the negatives found all throughout the film, I did find one thing to cling on to and enjoy. I'm sure anyone who is a fan of Neil Patrick Harris will enjoy him here in this film, though he seems oddly out of place in a movie with such a dark tone. His comedic relief is really crucial in keeping Kyle/Hunter as relative a character as he remains throughout the film. The interaction between these two characters are really the best parts of the film, and many of their scenes I found myself reminded of Harris' popular television character, Barney Stinson. A particular scene in which the two share a moment on the roof hitting golf balls into the city had me weak with laughter, but other than that I never really found myself honestly enjoying this film.

There's so much to nitpick with Beastly and it doesn't really surprise me that that was the case. I feel that this film was more directed towards a teenage crowd that is coming off of a Twilight high, and probably not really marketed towards me. I wanted to check it out because of the story's origins, but I have to say that overall I was pretty let down. Between the music montages and the dumbing down of much of the story and characters, I couldn't really find much to enjoy besides good 'ol NPH himself. Beastly is the type of film that requires a teenage mind, a suspension of disbelief, and an attraction to shiny objects. I feel that the film was marketed quite well, as whoever was advertising it obviously got me to see it. If you're looking for quality, cry-at-the-end romance story-telling, you will not get it here. But if you're somewhere between the ages of 10-16 and you're looking for something short, simple, and "sweet", this would be a choice that I don't think would disappoint such a crowd.

ACTING : ( 5 / 10 )

STORY : ( 7 / 10 )

EXECUTION : ( 1 / 10 )

POSTER : ( 4 / 10 )

AWESOME : ( 3 / 10 )

FINAL RATING : ( 4 / 10 )