Review: Beautiful Creatures

It seems that every studio is trying to replicate the success of the Twilight Saga at the box office by adapting a teen-supernatural-romance into a film franchise (fun fact, that will make you lose faith in humanity: you can now find a 'Teen Paranormal Romance' section in your local Barnes & Nobles).  I can't blame them.  The first movie only cost $37 million to make and made...wait for it...$392 million worldwide.  I saw the first three Twilight movies at the urging of my mother, and I will never do that again.  I despise them.  They are awful cinema, bad romance, and sparkly.  However, I was intrigued by Beautiful Creatures, both by the story and the actors involved.

THE GOOD
I was warned that the acting was going to be over-the-top and campy, so I actually appreciated the acting.  It is never a bad experience to see Emma Thompson on screen, and this is no different.  Also, the male lead (Alden Ehrenreich) is really good, adding a surprising amount of depth to what could have been a simple character.

The story was somewhat cookie-cutter, but veered off the path enough that it was as intriguing as the trailer teased.

THE BAD
I know I'm always critical of the score of a movie, but this one was bad.  In fact, it was almost on the level of Eragon, which was another Jeremy Irons movie.

Viola Davis was ridiculously out of place.  Pretty much every scene she's in feels awkward.  If she doesn't start picking better movies to suit her style, she's going to go the way of Kevin Costner (i.e. an actor with an Oscar that now lives in obscurity).  There was a scene involving the town library that was so confusing and forced.

One of the main message of the film is that 'Small Towns have Small Minds.'  I am sympathetic to that view because of my own upbringing.  However, the film went overboard in demonizing people of faith.  It could have been more temperate.  But, I guess that's what we should expect from Hollywood.

CONCLUSION
In comparison to other teen-paranormal-romance movies, this one is the best of the bunch.  And when compared to the other movies released so far this year (all of 2 months), it stands up pretty well.  But, it's not going to be making anyone's "Best of the Year" list.  It's pure popcorn, which was what I expected, and therefore I enjoyed it.  3/5 Stars.

As a side note, if the movies released thus far are an omen of the quality of this year's films, we are in trouble.  Most in the critical community regarded 2012 to be an exceptionally good year for movies.  It looks like this year might be as bad as 2011.