Movie Review: Beautiful Creatures

As you know because you're a religious follower of all my posts (haha, catch the sardonic tone), I recently read Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. I've had it on my shelf, but the movie piqued my interest to actually start it. I had planned on finishing it before movie release day, but I ended up finishing it the day after. No worries because I finally got around to seeing it last weekend with my mother who I felt bad about dragging with me, but when you need a ride... We do what we do. I was justified into bringing her!

Because Rotten Tomatoes gave this movie a 45%, I went into it thinking that it was going to be absolutely terrible, but I liked it!  There were a few issues I had with it, but it stayed very close to the book minus a few details in the end.

6.5/10 
WHAT I LIKED: The visuals and cinematography were great!  The setting of small town Gatlin was beautiful.  It's how I imagined it, but what was really cool was the magic.  I heard from an Emmy Rossum interview that the director doesn't like to use CGI, so the scene where the room is spinning was not computer generated.  Poor actors, I would have thrown up!
Also, the characters were more interesting in this portrayal.  In the book, I found the two protagonists Ethan and Lena extremely dull.  However, in the movie, Ethan was much more likable; he joked more.

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: Oh the casting!  I have come to love Alden Ehrenreich!  Doesn't he look like Leo DiCaprio?

Alden

Leonardo

Sorry for my little ADD moment right there.  Back to the casting.  Why do people think that people in their twenties can pass for teenagers?  At least Ethan's age was bumped up to 17 in the movie instead of being 15 like in the book.  And what was up with the awful southern accents?  Yeah, they're in the south but neither Lena or Ethan had one in the book.  Lena moved around too much to pick one up, and Ethan got in trouble for dropping g's at the end of ing words.  However, I do like Alice Englert as Lena.  Her accent was bearable, like a southern belle.  She also looks like how I pictured Lena, sexy, mysterious  dark, and sweet all at the  same time.

The ending was altered a bit, but I don't know if I minded that.  The result was ultimately the same, but getting there was a little different.  I would totally watch the sequel, but I don't think it was successful enough to make another movie.

Would I recommend it? I liked it.  I thought it was cute.  Definitely consider the genre and don't expect too much from it.  If you remember anything from this, know that it was better than Twilight!  Sorry Twihards, but those movies are so bad!