Beautiful CreaturesDirected by Richard LaGravenese
Starring: Alden Ehrenreich, Alice Englert, Jeremy Irons, Viola Davis, Emma Thompson, Emmy Rossum, Dame Eileen Atkins, Margo Martindale
Grade: B
What is being billed as a potential new franchise aimed primarily at teen
audiences – in the vein of “The Hunger Games” or “Twilight” – “Beautiful
Creatures,” adapted from a novel by Kami Garcia, shows no signs of limiting
itself to romantic young minds. While
this story of love and magic will likely appeal to a target demographic, surrounding
the young central couple of Ehrenreich and Englert with a host of reputable
actors, from Viola Davis to Dame Eileen Atkins, ensures that the film is more
accessible to an older audience. Of course, it helps that LaGravenese’s deft
script gives these actors so much to do, the dynamic between the spell-casting
members of the mysterious Ravenwood family fascinatingly volatile, Jeremy Irons
and Emma Thompson’s bristling standoff in a church allowing both actors to flex
their acting muscle in ways we haven’t seen in a while, and Emmy Rossum an electric presence as the film's catty villain.
As the
young lead of the film, Ehrenreich exerts such charm and charisma, elitist in
the way that he observes the narrow-minded members of his small town, itching
for an alien form of excitement he gratefully receives. He and Englert have a
winning chemistry together, and it’s somewhat of a relief that the strength of their
romance isn’t diluted by the overkill of the obstacles and constraints which
come between them. Nevertheless, “Beautiful Creatures” has its problems: An
excellent first hour is undone by some convoluted plot twists in the second,
and its finale strangely appears to betray the already-established mechanics of
its world. But once it has you in its stranglehold “Beautiful Creatures” won’t
let go, beautifully nostalgic with its horror elements and lovingly new-age in
its impression of star-crossed lovers separated by supernature.
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